Automatics now make up a third of the UK total car parc

Analysis of transmission data by Solera cap hpi shows that automatics now make up almost a third of the UK’s total car parc, with numbers increasing 118% in a decade. Between 2014 and 2024, the volume of automatic cars increased by 13% from 16.3% of the parc to 29.3% by the end of last year. 

In 2014, there were 7.1 million automatic cars on UK roads. A decade later, this figure has more than doubled to over 15.5 million, an increase of 8.4 million vehicles. Over the same period, the number of manual cars increased by 2.4 percent, from 36.6 million to 37.5 million. The volume of automatics has increased exponentially year on year since 2014, with manual volumes falling for the past five years. 

The data also shows that motorists have shifted to automatics faster as time has passed, trebling the 400,000 new vehicles on UK roads in 2014 to 1.3 million ten years later.

Registration data reveals that the number of automatics almost tripled, from 538,000 new registrations in 2014 to over 1.5 million in 2024. In the same period, the number of manual vehicles registered dropped from 708,000 to 274,000 in 2024. 2020 was the last year that manual cars increased their volume in the UK car parc, with 23,000 registrations. 

Manufacturers that have increased their volumes of automatic registrations include Kia, which accounts for 5.1% of all automatic registrations, Land Rover, with 4%, and MG, with 3.9%. 

Commenting on the growing demand for automatic transmission-equipped cars, Stacey Ward, senior data director at cap hpi, said: “Changing driving habits, especially in congested urban areas, have made automatics more appealing to drivers for their ease of use in stop-start traffic. 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.”