2014 (Half Year) Britain: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers and Models

The British car market expanded 10.6% during the first six months of 2014. Ford and Vauxhall were the top-selling brands and the Fiesta and Focus the favorite models.

Ford Mustang at the Geneva Auto Salon 2014

In June 2014, the British car market expanded for a record 28th consecutive month. During the first half of 2014, new passenger vehicle registrations in the UK grew by 10.6% to nearly 1.3 million cars. Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen were the best-selling car marques in Britain for the first semester of 2014. The Ford Fiesta and Ford Focus maintained their traditional positions as the favorite cars of the British.

The British Car Market in 2014 (First Half)

New passenger vehicle registrations in the UK for the first half of 2014 increased by 10.6% to 1,287,265 cars. This confirmed the British car market as the second largest and fastest growing major car market in Europe.

In June 2014, the British car market expanded for the 28th consecutive month in a row – a new record period of growth. The first semester 2014 had the highest number of car sales since 2005 while several months set record sales for the past two decades.

Best-Selling Car Brands in the UK in 2014 (Half Year)

The top-selling car marques in Britain during the first semester of 2014 according to car sales statistics released by the SMMT were:

MARQUEHalf Year 2014% Market shareHalf Year 2013% Market share% Change
Total1’287’2651’163’62310.63
1Ford173’55413.48163’39614.046.22
2Vauxhall141’60911132’64011.46.76
3Volkswagen110’6668.6101’3178.719.23
4Audi83’7616.5173’7676.3413.55
5BMW75’1225.8465’2145.615.19
6Nissan70’9295.5161’6615.315.03
7Mercedes-Benz63’8664.9654’6374.716.89
8Peugeot57’4284.4656’2534.832.09
9Toyota51’0643.9747’3584.077.83
10Citroen44’0903.4342’7843.683.05
11Hyundai42’7323.3239’1353.369.19
12Kia40’8493.1737’1783.29.87
13Skoda39’1763.0432’3842.7820.97
14Fiat34’8702.7129’4232.5318.51
15Renault32’0642.4920’0351.7260.04
16Land Rover30’0192.3330’1202.59-0.34
17Honda29’9192.3230’2262.6-1.02
18SEAT27’3422.1222’7521.9620.17
19MINI21’4081.6625’3202.18-15.45
20Mazda19’8871.5415’6421.3427.14
21Volvo19’8501.5416’7801.4418.3
22Suzuki19’7261.5317’1201.4715.22
23Dacia12’9761.016’9940.685.53
24Jaguar9’8260.768’6580.7413.49
25Mitsubishi6’0000.475’0340.4319.19
26Lexus5’6310.444’1140.3536.87
27Porsche4’6400.363’9010.3418.94
28Alfa Romeo2’9570.232’7870.246.1
29Chevrolet2’7590.216’7640.58-59.21
30smart2’5270.22’9210.25-13.49

Source: SMMT

Top-Selling Car Marques in the UK in 2014 (First Semester)

There were hardly any changes in the composition of the list of the top-10 best-selling car manufacturers in Britain during the first semester of 2014 compared with the first half of 2013. The only position change was that Mercedes-Benz moved ahead of Peugeot.

Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen thus remained the top three car brands most popular with British car buyers. However, all three top brands underperformed the broader market.

In contrast, Audi, BMW, Nissan and Mercedes-Benz all had strong growth in Britain thus far this year. Mercedes showed the strongest improvement of the top-ten marques.

Peugeot, Toyota and Citroen all underperformed but maintained their places on the top-ten list of best-selling car brands in the UK.

A few further salient features from the new passenger vehicle registrations statistics for the first half of 2014:

  • The best-performing brands were Renault (+60%) and its budget brand Dacia (+85%).
  • The worst-performing brand was Chevrolet (down 60%) – the brand is withdrawing from the European market.
  • Mini and Smart were both down around 15% – both marques suffering from model changes this year.
  • VW-owned Skoda and Seat saw sales increased by 20% – much faster than the Volkswagen brand.

Top 10 Most-Popular Car Models in Britain in 2014 (First Half)

The top 10 best-selling car models in the UK during the first six months of 2014 according to the SMMT were:

HY 2012HY 2013HY 2014Brand & ModelHY 2014
111Ford Fiesta70,153
322Ford Focus44,754
233Vauxhall Corsa42,285
554Volkswagen Golf38,142
445Vauxhall Astra32,311
666Nissan Qashqai26,190
8x7Audi A323,116
778Volkswagen Polo22,971
xx9Fiat 50021,686
x810BMW 3 Series20,207

Source: SMMT

The Ford Fiesta maintained its position as Britain’s favorite car model ahead of the Ford Focus. The Fiesta has been in the top slot since 2009. Ford sold 7,000 more Fiestas between January and June this year compared to last year, while Focus sales were down by around 3,000.

The Vauxhall Corsa maintained its third position despite selling 4,000 fewer cars this year than during the first semester of 2013. The Corsa is due for a complete model change by the end of the year, which should help sales in 2015.

The VW Golf regained fourth place by selling 6,000 more cars than a year ago. The Vauxhall Astra slipped one position with 1,500 fewer sales this year.

The Nissan Qashqai maintained its seventh place while the Audi A3 returned to the top-ten list – it was 8th in 2012. The VW Polo slipped on place from a year ago, although sales were roughly similar.

The Fiat 500 was a new entrant at 9th place while the BMW 3 Series slipped from 8th to 10th. The Peugeot 208 and BMW 1 Series dropped out of the top-ten list from a year ago.

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About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance writer with over 20 years of experience in online writing. His best-selling cars website has been reporting car sales statistics since 2008 with classic car auction prices focusing on the most expensive automobiles sold at public auctions in the past decade. He also owns the travel websites European-Traveler.com and Lake Geneva Switzerland. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Finance from the University of London.