During the first three months of 2012, the British car market showed weak growth with Ford, Vauxhall, and Volkswagen the strongest selling car brands.
The first quarter of 2012 saw an increase of almost a percentage point in new passenger vehicle registrations in the United Kingdom. The British car market grew by 0.93% to 563,556 new passenger cars registered during the first three months of the year. Ford, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, and Audi were the best-selling car manufacturers.
Top-Selling Car Brands and Manufacturers in the UK, Q1/2012
Car sales statistics released by the SMMT showed the list of the top 20 best-selling car marques in the UK for the first quarter of 2012 as follows:
| First Quarter (January to March) | % Change | |||||
| MARQUE | 2012 | % Market share | 2011 | % Market share | ||
| Total | 563,556 | 558,336 | 0.93 | |||
| 1 | Ford | 82,848 | 14.70 | 80,028 | 14.33 | 3.52 |
| 2 | Vauxhall | 57,836 | 10.26 | 66,701 | 11.95 | -13.29 |
| 3 | Volkswagen | 49,873 | 8.85 | 46,679 | 8.36 | 6.84 |
| 4 | Audi | 35,962 | 6.38 | 32,821 | 5.88 | 9.57 |
| 5 | Nissan | 30,081 | 5.34 | 25,006 | 4.48 | 20.30 |
| 6 | BMW | 30,063 | 5.33 | 30,290 | 5.43 | -0.75 |
| 7 | Peugeot | 29,411 | 5.22 | 28,491 | 5.10 | 3.23 |
| 8 | Toyota | 25,760 | 4.57 | 23,696 | 4.24 | 8.71 |
| 9 | Mercedes-Benz | 25,576 | 4.54 | 22,632 | 4.05 | 13.01 |
| 10 | Citroen | 19,585 | 3.48 | 20,546 | 3.68 | -4.68 |
| 11 | Hyundai | 17,761 | 3.15 | 17,343 | 3.11 | 2.41 |
| 12 | Kia | 17,211 | 3.05 | 14,670 | 2.63 | 17.32 |
| 13 | Land Rover | 15,810 | 2.81 | 13,264 | 2.38 | 19.19 |
| 14 | Honda | 14,747 | 2.62 | 17,027 | 3.05 | -13.39 |
| 15 | Skoda | 13,878 | 2.46 | 11,172 | 2.00 | 24.22 |
| 16 | Fiat | 13,059 | 2.32 | 12,340 | 2.21 | 5.83 |
| 17 | Renault | 11,581 | 2.05 | 20,391 | 3.65 | -43.21 |
| 18 | MINI | 11,306 | 2.01 | 12,106 | 2.17 | -6.61 |
| 19 | SEAT | 10,084 | 1.79 | 10,471 | 1.88 | -3.70 |
| 20 | Mazda | 9,708 | 1.72 | 10,452 | 1.87 | -7.12 |
Source: SMMT
Best-Selling Car Makes and Brands in Britain, Q1/2012
Ford and Vauxhall easily maintained their top two positions as Britain’s favorite car makes. Ford showed positive growth but Vauxhall continues to weaken and further bled market share.
Volkswagen and Audi maintained their third and fourth places but both German brands performed well in the UK during the first quarter of 2012 to increase both sales and gain market share.
However, of the top manufacturers in Britain, Nissan was the most improved and gained fifth position at the expense of BMW and Peugeot.
Changes in the Top-Selling Car Brands in the UK, Q1/2012
Renault (-43%) continues to show a disastrous performance on the British new car market. Honda, and mass producer Vauxhall both had a very weak start to the year with sales down by an unlucky 13%.
Skoda was the most improved brand on the British car market during the first quarter of 2012 by increasing sales by nearly a quarter. Nissan and Land Rover increased sales by around a fifth while Kia and Mercedes-Benz both enjoyed double-digit growth. Audi also had strong sales while BMW and Mini both registered negative numbers.
