Vehicle licensing statistics: 2008

The Department for Transport has published National Statistics on vehicle licensing and registration in Great Britain in 2008. The key results are as follows:

• Overall, there were 34.2 million licensed vehicles registered in Great Britain at the end of 2008. This is an increase of almost 250 thousand vehicles, or 0.7%, on the number licensed at the end of 2007 but is less than half the increase seen in the previous year and the lowest year on year growth since 1995.
• The change in vehicle numbers, however, varied between different types of vehicle with licensed motorcycles increasing in number by 2.2% over the year while the number of licensed heavy goods vehicles reduced by 1.7%.
• In addition, there were 2.7 million vehicles registered for the first time in Great Britain in 2008. This is a drop of over 300 thousand vehicle registrations, or 10.8%, from the previous year and represents the lowest number of new registrations since 1997. Proportionally, the year on year decrease is also the greatest since 1991.
• Alongside this overall decline in the number of vehicle registrations, the proportion of new registrations to companies continues to increase with almost 6 in every 10 cars registered in Great Britain in 2008 being company owned. Amongst light goods vehicle registrations, the proportion increased slightly in 2008 to 9 in every 10.
• The proportion of cars and light goods vehicles powered by diesel also continues to grow. A quarter of all licensed cars in Great Britain in 2008 were diesel propelled, twice the proportion from 10 years previous, while 43% of cars registered for the first time in 2008 were also fuelled by diesel. Amongst light goods vehicles, over 90% of the licensed stock and nearly all new registrations in 2008 were diesel powered.
• The average engine size of licensed cars and motorcycles appears to be stabilising. The mean engine capacity of all cars licensed in Great Britain at the end of 2008 was 1,751cc, unchanged from the previous year, while the mean size of licensed motorcycle engines increased by just 0.5% in 2008 to 571cc.
• Average carbon dioxide emissions from cars continued to fall in 2008, with average emissions from licensed cars - registered in Great Britain on or after 1 March 2001 - down 1% in the year to a mean of 169.5 g/km. Further, the average CO2 emissions from cars newly registered in the year fell by nearly 4% between 2007 and 2008 to an average figure of 158.2 g/km. In line with this, 1 in every 10 cars registered in 2008 recorded CO2 emissions of less than 120 g/km. In 2004, only 3 in every 100 recorded this level of emissions.
• The average age of the vehicle stock also continues to grow. In 2008, cars licensed in Great Britain had been registered for an average of 7 years each. In 2007, however, the average car was registered for 6.8 years while in 2003 the average stood at 6.6 years. Licensed motorcycles have similarly shown growth, increasing from a 2003 average of 9.4 years since registration to an average of 10.4 years in 2008.

Notes

1. Statistics on licensed vehicle stock and vehicles registered for the first time are produced from DVLA licensing records, taken from the DVLA database at 31 December each year.

2. Vehicle registration is a process to record details of vehicle keepers. The registered keeper of a vehicle is responsible for taxing the vehicle or telling DVLA that it is being kept off-road by making a Statutory Off Road Notification (SORN).

3. To be driven legally on the road, vehicles must have a current licence. Depending on the taxation group, licensing the vehicle may involve the payment of Vehicle Excise Duty.

4. From June 2009, summary statistics on the number of vehicles registered and licensed in Great Britain will be published on a monthly basis.

Publication details

Published on 9 April 2009 by Transport Statistics.

Available by telephone order on +44 (0)20 7944 3077

Email: vehicles.stats@dft.gov.uk for queries concerning vehicle licensing statistics.

For information about release of this product see National Statistics Online.