United Kingdom Auto Sales By Brand - May 2012

Brits registered 162,288 new vehicles in May 2012 according to the SMMT, a 7.9% increase over May 2011. The United Kingdom's new car market is up 2.6% through five months. Ford is very clearly the best-selling new car brand in the UK; Volkswagen is just as clearly the leading auto manufacturing conglomerate. 

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BMW sales increased in May, but not to the extent that Audi has been superseded as the UK's top-selling premium brand in 2012. Audi's lead over BMW did shrink to 4857 units by the end of May, however. Mercedes-Benz, the third-ranked premium automaker, is more than 17,000 units clear of fourth-ranked Land Rover.

Yes, that's Land Rover you see ahead of Honda. It's not abnormal in UK car sales to see Honda trailing the British SUV-maker. This is the third time in 2012 that it's happened, although Honda outsold Land Rover by nearly 13,000 units in 2011. It's not that any Honda machine lines up against a Land Rover SUV, but these rankings show the relative weakness of Honda in the United Kingdom, the strength of Land Rover in its home market, and the strength of Honda in the United States. For every Land Rover sold in America in May, Honda sold 35 vehicles.

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The United Kingdom - May 2012

While Land Rover, Suzuki, Chevrolet, Lexus, and Chrysler posted huge year-over-year percentage gains in May 2012, Subaru continues its slide out of the British new car market's collective consciousness. Subaru sold only 86 cars in the United Kingdom in May. Bentley and smart both sold more. Year-to-date, Subaru sales are down 22%. 

Click the accompanying market share chart for a look at which automakers are truly dominant and which are truly niche-oriented. GoodCarBadCar will shortly publish a list of May 2012's ten best-selling cars in the UK. For the first time this year, a Ford isn't in top spot. In the table below you'll find detailed May 2012 sales figures. Brands are ranked by total volume.

Rank	Automaker	May 2012	%  Change	Year To Date	YTD  % Change
#1	Ford	23,255	+ 7.8%	126,724	+ 5.6%
#2	Vauxhall	20,275	+ 7.6%	94,598	- 8.9%
#3	Volkswagen	15,511	+ 0.7%	78,684	+ 1.0%
#4	BMW	10,303	+ 4.3%	50,212	+ 4.2%
#5	Audi	10,116	+ 11.4%	55,069	+ 7.5%
#6	Peugeot	8238	+ 10.6%	43,774	+ 4.7%
#7	Mercedes-Benz	7282	+ 20.4%	39,579	+ 15.4%
#8	Nissan	6722	- 14.8%	43,159	+ 8.2%
#9	Toyota	6250	+ 43.0%	38,201	+ 17.0%
#10	Citroen	6039	+ 21.9%	30,949	+ 4.1%
#11	Kia	5176	+ 33.6%	27507	+ 24.0%
#12	Hyundai	4774	+ 11.8%	27,806	+ 6.0%
#13	Skoda	4696	+ 4.7%	22,613	+ 18.2%
#14	Fiat	4073	+ 31.2%	20,807	+ 13.2%
#15	Land Rover	3860	+ 60.8%	22,303	+ 28.4%
#16	Honda	3625	+ 27.9%	21,785	- 4.1%
#17	Mini	3576	- 16.1%	17,463	- 6.6%
#18	Renault	2814	- 37.3%	16,476	- 44.4%
#19	Seat	2669	+ 10.2%	15,755	+ 2.1%
#20	Volvo	2649	- 7.1%	14,151	- 3.0%
#21	Mazda	1901	- 7.7%	12,957	- 8.1%
#22	Suzuki	1824	+ 91.4%	10,568	+ 18.4%
#23	Chevrolet	1430	+ 77.2%	7622	+ 35.1%
#24	Jaguar	1126	+ 0.2%	5951	+ 4.9%
#25	Porsche	741	+ 15.4%	3168	+ 27.7%
#26	Lexus	695	+ 47.6%	3938	+ 11.5%
#27	Alfa Romeo	584	- 43.8%	3530	- 35.8%
#28	Mitsubishi	554	- 37.6%	3092	- 40.5%
#29	smart	309	- 24.8%	2175	- 3.5%
#30	Chrysler	266	+ 619%	1265	+ 398%
#31	Jeep	157	- 21.5%	967	+ 19.5%
#32	Bentley	137	+ 24.6%	558	+ 17.7%
#33	Subaru	86	- 67.4%	1089	- 22.4%
#34	Abarth	82	+ 1.2%	504	- 14.6%
#35	Ssangyong	74	-----	376	+ 4078%
#36	Aston Martin	54	- 38.6%	422	- 16.4%
#37	MG	49	- 2.0%	511	+ 547%
T38	Lotus	36	+ 20.0%	79	- 60.5%
T38	Perodua	36	- 21.7%	211	- 15.6%
#40	Maserati	25	- 19.4%	150	- 12.8%
#41	Infiniti	21	+ 40.0%	268	+ 75.2%
#42	Proton	16	- 63.6%	138	- 45.9%
#43	Saab	6	- 98.4%	143	- 95.6%
---	-----	-----	-----	-----	-----
---	VW Group  & Porsche	33,870	+ 5.4%	175,847	+ 5.5%
---	FoMoCo	23,255	+ 7.8%	126,724	+ 5.6%
---	Vauxhall  & Chevrolet	21,705	+ 10.5%	102,220	- 6.6%
---	Peugeot  & Citroen	14,277	+ 15.1%	74,723	+ 4.5%
---	BMW & Mini	13,879	- 1.9%	67,675	+ 1.2%
---	Hyundai & Kia	9950	+ 22.2%	55,313	+ 14.3%
---	Renault,  Nissan & Infiniti	9557	- 22.9%	55,903	- 19.8%
---	Mercedes-Benz & smart	7591	+ 17.5%	41,654	+ 14.0%
---	Toyota & Lexus	6945	+ 43.5%	42139	+ 16.5%
---	Fiat Group,  Chrysler & Jeep	5187	+ 15.5%	27,223	+ 5.9%
---	Jaguar  & Land Rover	4986	+ 41.4%	28,254	+ 22.6%
---	Honda	3625	+ 27.9%	21,785	- 4.1%

Source: Automakers & SMMT

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