New car registrations fell 6.0% last month, figures show.

Industry body the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 144,288 new cars were registered in October.

This compares to 153,529 in the same month last year.

This decline was driven by double-digit declines in deliveries of gasoline and diesel vehicles, down 14.2% and 20.5% respectively.

There was a 1.6% drop in hybrid electric vehicle (EV) adoption and a 3.2% drop in plug-in hybrid electric vehicle registrations.

Pure battery electric vehicles bucked the trend with growth of 24.5% thanks to the introduction of a series of new models.

SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes said: “Massive investment by manufacturers in model choice and market support is helping to make the UK the second largest electric vehicle market in Europe.

“This transition must not, however, perversely slow down the reduction of carbon emissions from road transport.

“Market-wide fleet renewal remains the fastest way to decarbonize, so a decline in overall adoption is not good news for the economy, for investment or for the environment .

“Electric vehicles are already working for many people and businesses, but to move the entire market at the pace required requires significant intervention in incentives, infrastructure and regulation.”

Ian Plummer, commercial director at online vehicle marketplace Auto Trader, said: “New car sales in October are lagging, although electric vehicles are taking a larger share of the market thanks to heavy discounts.

“Weak sales of petrol and diesel are also likely to be driven by manufacturers’ efforts to meet EV sales targets under the Zero Emission Vehicle (Zev) mandate.

“Manufacturers are making considerable efforts to close the price gap compared to electric vehicles – as shown by the 12% discounts on the Auto Trader website in October – but the market is still not reaching the necessary volumes. “

The Zev mandate requires at least 22% of new cars and 10% of new vans sold by every manufacturer in the UK this year to be zero emissions, which in most cases means purely electric.

Manufacturers risk having to pay the government £15,000 for each polluting vehicle sold above the limits, or buying credits from rival companies.