UK car sales plunge but electric vehicles soar to record amid fuel crisis

Global chip shortage helps push car registrations to lowest level for more than two decades

The number of electric cars sold in the UK last month neared the figures for the whole of 2019, with panic-buying at the petrol pumps expected to accelerate consumer appetite to switch to cleaner vehicles.

Nearly 33,000 pure electric cars were registered in a record month for EVs, almost 50% more than last year, as sales of new cars otherwise tumbled to the weakest September total for more than two decades.