Data Reveals Huge Growth In Automatic Market
Data collated by Solera cap hpi has revealed a huge increase in the number of automatic cars on UK roads, fuelled in part by the growth of electric vehicles over the past decade.
Back in 2014, around 16.3% of cars on the road in the UK were fitted with an automatic transmission but by the end of 2024, that number had increased to 29.3%.
In total, over eight million additional automatic cars were on the roads at the end of the decade, whereas the number of manual cars increased by less than one million.
Although manual cars still account for a greater percentage of the overall figure, the number of new manual cars being registered has failed to raise since 2020 as more and more people move towards automatic transmissions.
An ever-increasing number of people are now also securing licences that restrict them to automatic only cars, with the figure having doubled between 2012 and 2022.
“Changing driving habits, especially in congested urban areas, have made automatics more appealing to drivers for their ease of use in stop-start traffic,” Stacey Ward, senior data director at cap hpi revealed. “Advances in technology over the past decade have also greatly improved automatic transmissions' efficiency and responsiveness.
“The rise in popularity of EVs, which are always automatic, has significantly contributed to the increasing shift towards automatics over manual. Manufacturers have responded by reducing manual gearbox options, with some major brands eliminating them entirely from their lineups.
“Additionally, more new drivers are opting for automatic-only driving licenses. In 2012, there were just 550,000 drivers with automatic licences. In 2022, there were over 1.1 million, with this figure expected to continue to increase. Estimates suggest that by next year, a quarter of learners will qualify with a licence limited to automatic cars only.”