In full-year 2023, Volkswagen, Ford and Audi were again the top-selling car brands in Britain with all top marques increasing sales in the UK.
2023 (January to December): The seven largest car brands in Britain were in the same rank positions as a year ago. Volkswagen was the top-selling car brand in the UK for the third consecutive year while Ford was again second. Audi was the most improved top-ten brand. Tesla was the only top-25 brand in Britain with lower sales in 2023 than in 2022.
In 2023, the new car market in Britain expanded by 17.9% to 1,903,054 newly registered passenger vehicles. Volkswagen was the top-selling brand in the UK. The Ford Puma was the favorite car model of the British in 2023 and the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling battery-electric car in the UK.
Latest British Car Sales Data: 2023: Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric; 2022-2008.
Best-Selling Car Brands in Britain in 2023 (Full Year)
The top-selling car marques in the UK in the full-year 2023 were as follows according to the SMMT:
MARQUE | 2023 | 2022 | % 22/23 | |
Total UK Market | 1,903,054 | 1,614,063 | 17.90 | |
1 | Volkswagen | 162,087 | 131,850 | 22.93 |
2 | Ford | 144,072 | 126,826 | 13.60 |
3 | Audi | 137,485 | 110,144 | 24.82 |
4 | BMW | 111,734 | 108,624 | 2.86 |
5 | Toyota | 109,864 | 102,181 | 7.52 |
6 | Kia | 107,765 | 100,191 | 7.56 |
7 | Vauxhall | 100,417 | 83,691 | 19.99 |
8 | Nissan | 89,460 | 76,711 | 16.62 |
9 | Mercedes-Benz | 87,782 | 80,910 | 8.49 |
10 | Hyundai | 87,112 | 80,419 | 8.32 |
11 | MG | 81,289 | 51,050 | 59.23 |
12 | Skoda | 70,024 | 48,848 | 43.35 |
13 | Peugeot | 62,401 | 52,264 | 19.40 |
14 | Land Rover | 53,388 | 43,180 | 23.64 |
15 | Volvo | 50,184 | 36,506 | 37.47 |
16 | Tesla | 49,571 | 54,622 | -9.25 |
17 | MINI | 47,594 | 45,854 | 3.79 |
18 | Renault | 42,545 | 32,285 | 31.78 |
19 | SEAT | 32,177 | 22,140 | 45.33 |
20 | Citroen | 30,931 | 28,487 | 8.58 |
21 | Mazda | 30,495 | 25,209 | 20.97 |
22 | Dacia | 28,651 | 27,221 | 5.25 |
23 | Suzuki | 26,574 | 17,378 | 52.92 |
24 | Cupra | 25,658 | 14,383 | 78.39 |
25 | Honda | 25,274 | 24,084 | 4.94 |
26 | Porsche | 24,241 | 18,267 | 32.70 |
27 | Fiat | 16,598 | 19,698 | -15.74 |
28 | Lexus | 15,963 | 10,675 | 49.54 |
29 | Jaguar | 14,235 | 12,165 | 17.02 |
30 | Polestar | 12,543 | 7,345 | 70.77 |
31 | Jeep | 3,089 | 2,525 | 22.34 |
32 | Subaru | 2,409 | 1,391 | 73.18 |
33 | DS | 2,403 | 3,674 | -34.59 |
34 | Ssangyong | 1,660 | 1,536 | 8.07 |
35 | Alfa Romeo | 1,546 | 1,576 | -1.90 |
36 | Genesis | 1,362 | 1,000 | 36.20 |
37 | Bentley | 1,312 | 1,629 | -19.46 |
38 | BYD | 1,158 | 0.00 | |
39 | GM Ora | 911 | 68 | 1,239.71 |
40 | Maserati | 892 | 720 | 23.89 |
Source: SMMT |
Top 10 Largest Car Brands in the UK in 2023
Although the UK has a remarkably competitive car market, the same ten marques as a year ago were again the ten largest car brands in Britain in 2023. However, it is even more unusual that the top seven brands were in the same relative rank positions as a year ago.
Volkswagen was the top-selling car brand in the UK in 2023 for the third consecutive year. VW increased its lead over Ford from around 5,000 cars in 2022 to 18,000 in 2023.
All top-ten brands in Britain in 2023 increased sales volumes but only Audi, VW, and Vauxhall outperformed the market average of 18%. The worst-performing top-ten brand was BMW with sales up only 3%.
Nissan improved from the tenth to eighth largest car brand in Britain in 2023. As a result, both Mercedes Benz and Hyundai slipped down a rank position.
MG and Skoda increased sales by more than half to finish the year at 11th and 12th.
Last year’s eleventh strongest brand, Tesla, was the only top-25 brand with lower volume sales in Britain in 2023 compared to 2022. Tesla slipped from 11th to 16th.
A brand to watch is BYD at 38th — it entered the British market during 2023 but it was the top-selling brand in China and in the final quarter of 2023 it was the largest producer of electric cars in the world and for the full year second only to Tesla.
In 2023, the new car market in Britain expanded by 17.9% to 1,903,054 newly registered passenger vehicles. Volkswagen was the top-selling brand in the UK. The Ford Puma was the favorite car model of the British in 2023 and the Tesla Model Y was the best-selling battery-electric car in the UK.
Latest British Car Sales Data: 2023: Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric; 2022-2008.