Makes / Reliant / Petrol Tricycle
Petrol Tricycle
Reliant · on record 1994 to 2025
Reliant Petrol Tricycle is a registration description for a 3 wheel motor vehicle rather than a conventional 4 wheel passenger car. It may cover older Reliant models whose official type was recorded generically instead of by Robin, Regal or another family name. These vehicles should be separated in car only analysis because their legal classification, construction and ownership history are tied to the motor tricycle category.
ENDANGERED
Red List classification, from population, five year trajectory and survival against peak. Reviewed each census.
29
licensed vehicles
2025 census
2025 census
40.9% of the peak fleet remains licensed
16
declared SORN
total surviving
peak 71 in 1996 · −0 vehicles a year, five year trend
Population history
Licensed and SORN vehicles at each census. The filters below apply to the family population, MOT and registration figures. They do not alter the generation history above.
Licensed
SORN
Latest census observation
At the average decline recorded over the latest five years, the licensed fleet would reach zero around 2170.
Illustrative projection only; vehicle populations rarely decline linearly. Late fleets typically flatten as surviving examples enter preservation.
Inside the surviving fleet
AutoCensus parses every DVLA variant description, so the fleet can be read by fuel and specification rather than as one number.
First registrations by year
When surviving examples first joined the British fleet.
New registrations
Vehicles first registered each year. A fleet still being sold shows here; a finished one shows only imports.
MOT reliability
DVSA test results for this family, 2005 to 2016.
Pass rate by year
| Failure reason | Failures | Share of all tests |
|---|---|---|
| The exhaust gas contains a carbon monoxide content exceeding the limit for a continuous period of 5 seconds | 1 | 7.7% |
| A mandatory rear fog lamp inoperative or less than 50% of the light sources illuminating | 1 | 7.7% |
| Excessive play in a front wheel bearing | 1 | 7.7% |
| A major leak of exhaust gases from any part of the system | 1 | 7.7% |
| The anti-slip provision on the brake pedal pad is missing, incomplete, loose or worn smooth | 1 | 7.7% |
| A direction indicator does not flash at 60 to 120 times per minute | 1 | 7.7% |
Counted across every recorded test, 2005 to 2016. Advisories are excluded.
Where the Petrol Tricycle remains
Based on MOT test locations, 2016. Test location is a proxy: a vehicle is counted where it was last tested, not where it is kept.
| Postcode area | Vehicles tested | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| WA | 2 | 50% |
How this record was calculated
LATEST CENSUS2025
POPULATION SOURCEDVLA VEH0220 annual
HISTORY SOURCEDVLA VEH0120 GB · to 2013
MOT SOURCEDVSA results · to 2016
FAMILY DEFINITIONRELIANT PETROL TRICYCLE
PROCESSED20 Sep 2026
Full methodology
Population history combines DVLA VEH0120 Q4 census observations through 2013 with the annual VEH0220 census from 2014 onward. Figures before 2014 cover Great Britain only. Historical VEH0120 is used only when its overlapping UK observations reconcile to the current canonical family definition. Vehicles are grouped into this family using the DVLA GenModel together with durable routing rules for known inconsistencies.
Variant figures are parsed from raw DVLA model descriptions and the original string is always retained. Configuration is only assigned where the model description explicitly identifies it; a blank configuration is not treated as a two door Wrangler. Blank transmission fields are shown as manual because DVLA records the field for automatic vehicles.
MOT figures count tests, not vehicles, and geographic figures count each vehicle at its most recent test location. The decline projection is a straight line fitted to the latest five years and is illustrative only.