As concerns around pricing hold firm, the UK has seen a drop in interest around buying electronic vehicles, Simon-Kucher research suggests. While four-in-ten consumers expect their purchasing power to decrease, the number of people considering an EV for their next personal car fell by around 3% in Britain.
Simon-Kucher polled 6,600 buyers from 20 global markets for its 2026 Global Automotive Study. The results show that the lingering cost-of-living-crisis in many markets is often seeing the idea of buying a new car take a back seat.
The study found that 73% of customers planned on buying a brand new car – a decline of 7% on last year’s figures. The other 27% said they would look to purchase a used car.
Source: Simon-Kucher
“This is not a demand crisis, it is a conversion crisis,” said Martin Gehring, global head of automotive at Simon-Kucher. “Buyers are still in the market, but they are more cautious, more selective, and far less willing to compromise. Across regions, the winners will be those who make value clear, reduce perceived risk, and remove friction from the buying process.”
Focusing on British consumers, that decline was even more notable. In 2025, 73% of respondents said they were planning on buying new – but this year, just 66% said as much. But while purchasing power has been decreasing in the country, it is not the only factor at play.
The number of global respondents to suggest their purchasing power would decrease (their agreement defined as a five, six or seven on a seven-point scale in correspondence to ‘How do you evaluate the following statement”… My purchasing power will decrease’) rose from 46% to 47% in the last year – a slim increase. But in the UK, there was no movement – the 43% of 2025 held steady in 2026. Alongside Turkey and Canada, it was the only market with no such change either way.
Source: Simon-Kucher
When it comes to what else might be pushing UK consumers away from new cars, questions around EVs rise to the fore.
Electric vehicles are still presented as the future, but practical concerns continue to hold buyers back in Western markets. More generally, charging time is the top barrier, cited by 51% of respondents, followed by battery-life uncertainty and range concerns. Among current EV drivers, the main frustrations are occupied charging stations (40%), slow charging (34%), and too few public chargers (31%). And these may play a larger role in the UK than in wider Europe or North America.
While the EU and US have renegued on promises to crack down on the sale of new combustion engines – as a key part of their net zero targets – the UK Government has so far maintained its own pledge to ban the sale of pure-petrol and diesel cars by 2030. All new hybrids and non-zero-emissions models will meanwhile follow by 2035.
Source: Simon-Kucher
With prices holding fast, the perceived lack of new combustion engines on the horizon may already be impacting planning purchases. When asked which kind of engine they would consider for their next purchase or lease, UK respondents saw EV enthusiasm fall from around 60% to 57% in 2026. That makes the UK one of only seven markets surveyed to see that trend – with others including the extremely mature and saturated markets of Norway and South Korea.
If current plans proceed, a fall in EV interest will be synonymous with a fall in new vehicle interest – as they will be the only new cars available. That is something automotive firms will need to factor in, when pricing their vehicles to attract consumers to newer offerings.
“Automotive players need to adapt to both global pressure and local nuance,” said Matthias Riemer, partner at Simon-Kucher. “Winning now requires a shift from product-led selling to value-led conversion. That means structuring clear pricing logic, offering step-down pathways across new and used vehicles, and embedding trust directly into the offer through warranties, service bundles, and transparent information. The brands that reduce perceived risk and make decisions easier will be the ones that unlock demand.”
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