In 2013, the Ford Fiesta remained Britain’s favorite car model. The second best-selling car in the UK was the Ford Focus ahead of the Vauxhall Corsa and Astra.
In 2013, the Ford Fiesta was for the fifth consecutive year the best-selling car model in the United Kingdom. The Ford Focus regained second place from the Vauxhall Corsa. The Vauxhall Astra confirmed its place as the fourth most-popular car in the UK. The VW Golf was fifth followed by the Nissan Qashqai. The British car market expanded to 2,264,737 cars (+11%) in 2013 with December 2013 recording the 22nd consecutive month of growth.
Best-Selling Car Models in Britain in 2013 (Full Year)
The top-selling car models in the UK in 2013 according to new passenger vehicle registration data released by the SMMT were:
| Brand & Model | Cars Sold in 2013 | |
| 1 | Ford Fiesta | 121’929 |
| 2 | Ford Focus | 87’350 |
| 3 | Vauxhall Corsa | 84’275 |
| 4 | Vauxhall Astra | 68’070 |
| 5 | Volkswagen Golf | 64’951 |
| 6 | Nissan Qashqai | 50’211 |
| 7 | BMW 3 Series | 43’494 |
| 8 | Volkswagen Polo | 42’609 |
| 9 | BMW 1 Series | 41’883 |
| 10 | Peugeot 208 | 38’616 |
| Source: SMMT |
Top-Ten List of Most Popular Cars in Britain in 2013 (Full Year)
In 2013, for a fifth consecutive year, the Ford Fiesta was the most popular car model in the UK. Ford sold almost a thousand more Fiestas per month than a year ago.
The Ford Focus regained second place in Britain in 2013 – a position it had lost to the Vauxhall Corsa in 2012.
The Vauxhall Corsa slipped down from second to the third most popular car in Britain in 2013. Corsa sales were down by around 5,000 cars despite the British car market (and Vauxhall sales) growing by 11%.
The Vauxhall Astra was again the fourth best-selling car model in the UK. Vauxhall slightly outperformed the market and Astra sales are now comfortably stronger than that of the Golf, which Astra outsold by only a thousand cars a year ago.
The Volkswagen Golf similarly maintained its fifth position for the second year in a row. (The Golf was briefly the fourth most popular car in the UK in 2011, when it outsold the Astra by a mere 800 cars.)
The Nissan Qashqai was similarly the sixth most popular car in the UK for a second year in a row. The Qashqai easily remains the most popular Japanese car and most popular SUV in Britain.
The BMW 3 Series also maintained its seventh place from a year ago making it the most popular premium or luxury car in the UK. However, by outselling all but six other car models, the BMW 3 Series can hardly be described as exclusive.
The aging VW Polo also maintained its eight position in the UK. The Polo is due for a slight facelift in 2014.
The BMW 1 Series moved up one position from a year ago and gave BMW again two models in the list of the top-ten most popular cars in Britain. BMW’s smallest car model sold 7,000 more cars in 2013 in Britain than a year ago.
The only new entrant on the top-ten list in 2013 was the Peugeot 208, at the expense of the Mercedes C-Class. Peugeot’s 200-series cars have traditionally been very popular in the UK but have missed out on the top-ten list during the previous two years.
The list of best-selling car brands in the UK in 2013 was again headed by Ford.
