2023 (Full Year) Britain: Best-Selling Car Brands in the UK

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.