Bumper year as West Midlands new car registration surpass two million mark in 'record year'
West Midlands automotive manufacturing has received welcome news after it was announced that the UK new car market had enjoyed a record year.
New registrations grew for the third year in a row in 2025 and surpassed the two million mark for the first time since the pandemic, according to data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
There were a total of 2,020,520 new car registrations last year while uptake in December rose by 3.9 per cent to 146,249 units.
Tens of thousands of people across the Black Country, Shropshire and wider West Midlands are employed in the car sector with JLR operating multiple factories in places such as Birmingham, Solihull and Coventry alongside its Electric Propulsion Manufacturing Centre near Wolverhampton.
Luxury sports car brand Aston Martin is also headquartered in Warwickshire, with both firms supporting thousands of jobs in the local supply chain.
The SMMT said the battery electric vehicle registrations took a high market share in the final month of the year, accounting for 32.2 per cent of the market - the only time the zero emission vehicle mandate target of 28 per cent was exceeded in 2025.
As a result, last year's total car market rose by 3.5 per cent, with growth across all buyer types.
