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UK EVs draw 33.8% of Auto Trader new-car enquiries but are just 6.7% of all UK dealer listings
UK market read, MarketCheck live inventory data, Oct 26, 2026
Auto Trader reported that UK new-car demand was level year on year in Oct 2026, with advertised new cars up 13% against Oct 2025 and electric cars taking 33.8% of new-car enquiries for the first time. Reading the same UK market from the other side, MarketCheck data shows electric cars were 6.7% of all UK dealer listings on Oct 26, 2026, new and used, with 38,286 electric listings out of 572,497 in total. Electric listings also carry a median days on market of 34 days against 56 days for the whole market, so EV stock is both scarce as a share of the lot and live for less time than the average listing.
What the data shows
| Measure (Oct 26, 2026) | All UK listings | Electric listings |
|---|---|---|
| Active listings (count) | 572,497 | 38,286 |
| Share of listings (%) | 100 | 6.7 |
| Median asking price (GBP) | 15,364 | 23,920 |
| Median mileage (miles) | 37,686 | 15,460 |
| Median days on market (days) | 56 | 34 |
| 90th percentile days on market (days) | 248 | 164 |
Electric listings are lower mileage and priced higher, and their median and slowest tenth both sit well below the market's days on market.
Caption: MarketCheck live inventory data, UK dealer websites, all listings new and used, Oct 26, 2026; medians and 90th percentiles.
By fuel type, the split on UK dealer websites on the same day looked like this:
| Fuel type (Oct 26, 2026) | Listings (count) | Share of listings (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Petrol | 296,611 | 51.8 |
| Diesel | 170,554 | 29.8 |
| Petrol electric hybrid | 65,794 | 11.5 |
| Electric | 38,286 | 6.7 |
Pure EVs are the smallest of the four main fuel types on UK lots, behind hybrids.
Caption: MarketCheck live inventory data, UK dealer websites, all listings new and used, by fuel type, Oct 26, 2026.
Why it matters
Demand is flat while advertised supply grows. Auto Trader reports level new-car demand against 13% more advertised new cars than in Oct 2025. More stock in front of the same number of shoppers points to margin pressure for dealers and more room for buyers to negotiate.
EV interest runs ahead of EV stock. Electric cars took 33.8% of new-car enquiries, according to Auto Trader, while MarketCheck data puts electric at 6.7% of all UK dealer listings on Oct 26, 2026. The listings figure covers new and used cars together, so it is not a like-for-like read of the story's new-car stock, but the size of the gap points to interest outrunning what is on the lot.
EV listings are live for less time. The median electric listing had been on UK dealer websites 34 days against 56 days for the whole market, and the 90th percentile was 164 days against 248 days. Electric stock is ageing less than the market around it.
EV stock is lower mileage and dearer. Electric listings show a median asking price of £23,920 against £15,364 for the market, about 56% higher, a gap of £8,556 at the median. Median mileage is 15,460 miles for electric against 37,686 miles for all listings.
Combustion still fills the lot. Petrol and diesel together are 81.6% of UK dealer listings. With a market 90th percentile of 248 days, aged combustion stock is the part of the lot most exposed if flat demand persists through Q4.
The EV share is moving down, not up. MarketCheck research put the electric share of UK dealer lots at 7.0% on Oct 5, 2026 and the electric median days on market at 37 days in late Sep 2026, against 56 days for the market at both points. SMMT counted a record 99,199 battery-electric registrations in Sep 2026.
What to watch
- The electric share of UK dealer listings: if it slips further below 6.7% while EV enquiries hold above a third, the gap between interest and stock widens.
- The electric median days on market: a move from 34 days back toward the market's 56 days would signal supply catching up with demand.
- Oct 2026 SMMT registrations against Auto Trader's flat demand: if registrations rise while demand stays level, pre-registration and discounting may be filling the gap.
- Combustion ageing: with petrol and diesel at 81.6% of listings and a market 90th percentile of 248 days, slow combustion stock is the exposure to watch as Q4 incentives deepen.
- One caution on reading the EV figure: days on market measures how long current listings have been live, not how fast cars sold. A falling median can reflect fresh EV arrivals as well as faster turns, so pair it with the share of the lot.
How this was measured
MarketCheck market data for the UK covers listings on dealer websites (the same car can appear on more than one site), all listings new and used, on Oct 26, 2026. Days on market is time a current listing has been live, not time to sale; prices are asking prices in GBP. MarketCheck data could not isolate UK new-car listings on that date, so the tables use all UK dealer listings as the nearest slice: they test EV supply and ageing, not the story's new-car stock figure.
The read used the Inventory Search API, GET /v2/search/car/active (Inventory Search API docs), run against the UK active endpoint for fuel-type facets and for price, mileage and days-on-market stats across electric and all listings, plus prior MarketCheck research on UK EV stock share and days on market. API keys: MarketCheck developer portal.
The story we checked
"New Car Demand in UK Steady with Increased Advertising and EV Enquiries on Auto Trader", Motor Trade News, Oct 23, 2026. Fact-check tally: 4 verified, 0 unverifiable, covering level year-on-year UK new-car demand in Oct 2026, the 13% rise in advertised new cars, the 33.8% electric share of new-car enquiries, and the record 99,199 UK battery-electric registrations in Sep 2026.
You can run the same read in MarketCheck AI Desk: https://ai.marketcheck.com/install.
Reproduce this
- search_active_cars: Filter live UK dealer listings to fuel type Electric and compare count, median asking price, mileage and days on market with all listings.
- search_past_90_days: Look at UK electric listings that left dealer websites in the last 90 days, at their last asking price, to see how EV stock is clearing.
- generate_full_market_capture: Pull every listing in one postcode market to see the local electric share of the lot.
The story we checkedNew Car Demand in UK Steady with Increased Advertising and EV Enquiries on Auto Trader, Motor Trade News, Oct 23, 2026
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