United Kingdom Auto Sales By Brand - April 2012

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Ford UK's year-to-date lead over Vauxhall expanded to 29,146 by the end of April 2012. Sales in Blue Oval showrooms increased 12% in April; Vauxhall sales slid 10%. Ford's gains were by no means the best (though, strictly by volume, Ford's 2210-unit increase was notable) and Vauxhall's losses were by no means the worst.

Volkswagen, for example, fell 16%. Renault, which recently shrunk the size of its lineup in the United Kingdom, plunged 56%. Alfa Romeo, Lexus, Mitsubishi, and Subaru slid 52%, 30%, 41%, and 38%, respectively.

On the other hand, sales at BMW and Mercedes-Benz shot up sharply. Toyota was also much improved compared with their April 2011 UK sales performance. Thanks in no small part to the Evoque, Land Rover sales jumped 54%. Jaguar sold 289 more cars this April than last. Honda sales jumped 20%, yet the world's foremost manufacturer of internal combustion engines still struggled to have much of an impact in the UK car market. Peugeot, Citroen, Hyundai, Kia, Skoda, and Fiat all sold cars more frequently than Honda last month.

Overall, the British new car market increased at a 3.3% clip in April. Sales were up 1.4% through the first four months of this year. The SMMT points out that UK car sales are still down substantially from 2007 but have risen significantly since 2009. 6% of the new vehicles sold so far this year have been Ford Fiestas. The Fiesta's market share in the United Kingdom is even more noteworthy than the dominating Ford F-Series' hold in the United States.

All brands competing for sales in the UK are ranked below by April 2012 volume. We published the UK's top 10 best-selling cars list a few hours ago.

Rank	Automaker	April 2012	%  Change	Year To Date	YTD  % Change
#1	Ford	20,621	+ 12.0%	103,469	+ 5.1%
#2	Vauxhall	16,487	- 9.9%	74,323	- 12.6%
#3	Volkswagen	13,300	- 15.9%	63,173	+ 1.1%
#4	BMW	9846	+ 22.9%	39,909	+ 4.2%
#5	Audi	8991	- 3.5%	44,953	+ 6.7%
#6	Mercedes-Benz	6721	+ 19.8%	32,297	+ 14.4%
#7	Nissan	6356	- 9.3%	36,437	+ 13.8%
#8	Toyota	6191	+ 35.1%	31,951	+ 13.0%
#9	Peugeot	6125	+ 4.7%	35,536	+ 3.5%
#10	Citroen	5325	+ 26.0%	24,910	+ 0.6%
#11	Hyundai	5271	+ 14.3%	23,032	+ 4.9%
#12	Kia	5120	+ 40.6%	22,331	+ 22.0%
#13	Skoda	4039	+ 16.0%	17,917	+ 22.3%
#14	Fiat	3675	+ 25.0%	16,734	+ 9.5%
#15	Honda	3413	+ 19.6%	18,160	- 8.7%
#16	Seat	3002	+ 18.4%	13,086	+ 0.6%
#17	Land Rover	2633	+ 53.8%	18,443	+ 23.2%
#18	Volvo	2627	+ 14.1%	11,502	- 2.1%
#19	Mini	2581	+ 10.5%	13,887	- 3.8%
#20	Renault	2081	- 56.0%	13,662	- 45.6%
#21	Mazda	1348	- 15.2%	11,056	- 8.2%
#22	Suzuki	1033	- 7.6%	8744	+ 9.6%
#23	Chevrolet	910	- 15.0%	6192	+ 28.1%
#24	Jaguar	805	+ 56.0%	4825	+ 6.0%
#25	Porsche	699	+ 44.1%	2427	+ 32.0%
#26	Alfa Romeo	637	- 51.5%	2946	- 34.0%
#27	Lexus	551	- 29.8%	3243	+ 6.0%
#28	Mitsubishi	436	- 40.9%	2538	- 41.1%
#29	smart	378	+ 6.8%	1866	+ 1.3%
#30	Chrysler	217	+ 1106%	999	+ 360%
#31	Jeep	128	- 14.7%	810	+ 33.0%
#32	Infiniti	103	+ 129%	247	+ 79.0%
#33	Bentley	92	- 17.1%	421	+ 15.7%
#34	Subaru	83	- 37.6%	1003	- 11.9%
#35	Ssangyong	69	+ 3350%	302	+ 3256%
#36	Aston Martin	65	- 35.0%	368	- 11.8%
#37	Abarth	60	- 44.4%	422	- 17.1%
#38	Perodua	40	- 21.6%	175	- 14.2%
#39	Proton	27	- 50.0%	122	- 42.2%
#40	Maserati	26	- 18.8%	125	- 11.4%
#41	Saab	23	- 95.3%	137	- 95.2%
#42	MG	16	+ 45.5%	462	+ 1493%
#43	Lotus	8	- 78.4%	43	- 74.7%

Source: Automakers & SMMT

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