The number of vehicles on British roads hit the highest-ever level last year on the back of record volumes of cars and vans.
Vans were up 1.8% to 5,102,180 units, with more than one million of these workhorses added to roads since 2015, according to the new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).
The number of cars in use also reached new highs, growing by 1.3% or 470,556 units to 36,165,401, marking the third consecutive year of growth and the second-biggest volume gain since 2016.
Heavy goods vehicle volumes remained almost unchanged, down 0.1% or 364 units, at 625,509 units. Bus and coach volumes fell 0.1% to 71,718 units, although this means that the UK public transport fleet is now the smallest since records began.
Overall, a record 42 million vehicles were on UK roads in 2024, marking a 1.4% rise.
Britain’s vehicle parc also continues to decarbonise, with a 34.6% increase in plug-in vehicles (BEV and plug-in hybrid) – now accounting for one in 20 (5.1%), or 2,157,360, vehicles in use.
The commercial vehicle parc is also decarbonising. While buses lead the way with an 81.8% increase in zero-emission units on last year to 3,494, vans are also increasingly going zero-emission, with battery electric van volumes increasing by 31.6% to 80,476 units – or 1.6% of the parc. Electric truck use also rose, but overall they account for fewer than 0.1% of the fleet.
The research also reveals that white-coloured vans remain the most popular at 2,745,635 units, but there are 372,993 blue vans in use.
