2014 (January to September): Ford and Vauxhall remained the top-selling car marques in the UK with the Fiesta the favorite model. New passenger vehicle registrations in Britain increased by 9.1% during the first nine months of 2014. White is now the most-popular color choice for new cars in the UK.
The British Car Market in 2014 (Q1-Q3)
New passenger vehicle registrations in the UK increased by 9.1% during the first three quarters of 2014 to 1,958,196 cars. September 2014 saw the 31 st consecutive month of year-on-year growth in the new car market in the UK.
The British car market has been expanding for nearly three years. September is traditionally the second strongest month for new car registrations in the UK – only March sales are usually stronger.
Growth in the British car market has slowed during the past two quarters of 2014 (7.3% and 6.2%) compared to more than 10% growth in the preceding four quarters. However, further, if slower, market expansion is expected to continue for the rest of the year.
The most-popular color for new cars in Britain during the first nine months of 2014 was white, followed by black, blue, grey and red. Silver, the top choice ten years ago, slipped out of the top five.
Best-Selling Car Brands in Britain in 2014 (Q1-Q3)
The top-selling car marques in the UK from January to September 2014 according to car sales statistics released by the SMMT were:
| MARQUE | Q1-3 / 2014 | % Market share | Q1-3/ 2013 | % Market share | % Change | |
| Total | 1’958’196 | 1’794’924 | 9.1 | |||
| 1 | Ford | 262’754 | 13.42 | 249’017 | 13.87 | 5.52 |
| 2 | Vauxhall | 210’357 | 10.74 | 200’357 | 11.16 | 4.99 |
| 3 | Volkswagen | 168’662 | 8.61 | 154’536 | 8.61 | 9.14 |
| 4 | Audi | 126’487 | 6.46 | 114’261 | 6.37 | 10.7 |
| 5 | BMW | 113’520 | 5.8 | 105’313 | 5.87 | 7.79 |
| 6 | Nissan | 106’890 | 5.46 | 94’541 | 5.27 | 13.06 |
| 7 | Mercedes-Benz | 99’096 | 5.06 | 86’624 | 4.83 | 14.4 |
| 8 | Peugeot | 85’418 | 4.36 | 86’019 | 4.79 | -0.7 |
| 9 | Toyota | 76’055 | 3.88 | 72’831 | 4.06 | 4.43 |
| 10 | Citroen | 66’542 | 3.4 | 63’773 | 3.55 | 4.34 |
| 11 | Hyundai | 65’564 | 3.35 | 61’210 | 3.41 | 7.11 |
| 12 | Kia | 62’538 | 3.19 | 58’307 | 3.25 | 7.26 |
| 13 | Skoda | 60’386 | 3.08 | 49’576 | 2.76 | 21.8 |
| 14 | Fiat | 53’781 | 2.75 | 47’587 | 2.65 | 13.02 |
| 15 | Renault | 50’732 | 2.59 | 32’320 | 1.8 | 56.97 |
| 16 | Land Rover | 45’483 | 2.32 | 43’916 | 2.45 | 3.57 |
| 17 | Honda | 44’102 | 2.25 | 45’494 | 2.53 | -3.06 |
| 18 | SEAT | 42’611 | 2.18 | 35’468 | 1.98 | 20.14 |
| 19 | MINI | 36’584 | 1.87 | 40’264 | 2.24 | -9.14 |
| 20 | Suzuki | 31’431 | 1.61 | 27’187 | 1.51 | 15.61 |
| 21 | Mazda | 31’373 | 1.6 | 26’027 | 1.45 | 20.54 |
| 22 | Volvo | 30’784 | 1.57 | 24’851 | 1.38 | 23.87 |
| 23 | Dacia | 18’583 | 0.95 | 11’631 | 0.65 | 59.77 |
| 24 | Jaguar | 14’627 | 0.75 | 13’256 | 0.74 | 10.34 |
| 25 | Mitsubishi | 11’162 | 0.57 | 7’416 | 0.41 | 50.51 |
| 26 | Lexus | 8’629 | 0.44 | 7’050 | 0.39 | 22.4 |
| 27 | Porsche | 6’483 | 0.33 | 6’021 | 0.34 | 7.67 |
| 28 | Alfa Romeo | 4’464 | 0.23 | 4’496 | 0.25 | -0.71 |
| 29 | smart | 4’016 | 0.21 | 4’316 | 0.24 | -6.95 |
| 30 | Jeep | 2’844 | 0.15 | 1’458 | 0.08 | 95.06 |
Top-Selling Car Brands in Britain in 2014 (January to September)
There were no changes in the rank order of the top-ten best-selling car marques in Britain during the first three quarters of 2014 compared to a year ago. Leaders Ford and Vauxhall all slightly lost market share while Volkswagen sales were flat.
Audi narrowly outperformed the broader market while BMW sales were just below market average. Nissan beat the market while Mercedes-Benz sales were the most improved of the top ten brands.
Peugeot was the only top-ten brand in the UK to actually saw weaker sales while Toyota and Citroen all lost market share despite higher numbers.
A few further salient features from the top-selling car marques in Britain during the first three quarters of 2014:
- Only five of the top-30 marques saw weaker sales: Mini, Smart, Honda, Alfa Romeo and Peugeot. Minis have been selling strongly after a model change earlier in the year while a new Smart should be launched by year-end.
- Top performers were Jeep – almost doubled sales – while Dacia, Renault, and Mitsubishi all saw sales up by more than 50%. Renault’s improvement came after a couple of dismal years in the UK.
- Chevrolet, which is withdrawing from the European market, slipped to 31st place with sales down 72%.
Top-10 Best-Selling Car Models in Britain in 2014 (Q1-Q3)
The top-ten, most-popular cars in the UK during the first nine months of 2014 according to car sales statistics released by the SMMT were:
| 2013 | 2014 | Models | Q1-3/2014 | Q1-3/2013 |
| 1 | 1 | Ford Fiesta | 106’930 | 96’047 |
| 2 | 2 | Ford Focus | 67’015 | 71’424 |
| 3 | 3 | Vauxhall Corsa | 62’693 | 67’748 |
| 5 | 4 | Volkswagen Golf | 58’664 | 51’795 |
| 4 | 5 | Vauxhall Astra | 47’482 | 53’338 |
| 6 | 6 | Nissan Qashqai | 38’920 | 41’070 |
| 9 | 7 | Volkswagen Polo | 36’772 | 34’302 |
| 8 | Audi A3 | 35’596 | NA | |
| 9 | Fiat 500 | 35’032 | NA | |
| 7 | 10 | BMW 3 Series | 29’655 | 34’484 |
The Ford Fiesta again extended its lead as Britain’s favorite car model by selling 10,000 cars more while the Ford Focus and Vauxhall Corsa saw weaker unit sales. The Corsa should benefit from the launching of a completely new model in coming months.
The only rank change amongst the top six best-selling car models in Britain during the first three quarters of 2014 was with the VW Golf again outselling the Vauxhall Astra. Golf sales increased by near 7,000 cars while Astra sales were down 6,000. Nissan Qashqai sales were also weaker.
The VW Polo increased sales and rank position from 9th to 7th. The Audi A3 and Fiat 500 are new entries in the top-ten list this year at the expense of the BMW 1 Series and Peugeot 208. The BMW 3 Series slipped from 7th a year ago to 10th with weaker sales.
