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

The United Kingdom's auto industry produced collective gains of 8.2%, a surprisingly strong month in what's always a high-volume time of year for UK new car sales. Both of the UK's two best-selling cars posted year-over-year growth much better than the industry's overall average. 

Through the first three quarters of 2012, UK new vehicle sales are 4.3% stronger than they were in the first three quarters of 2011. Ford Fiesta sales jumped 15% over last year's three-month total of 77,198 units. Year-over-year, sales of the Vauxhall Corsa, the Fiesta's key rival, are up 19%, equal to 11,516 extra sales for GM's British underling. 

Ford Focus sales, meanwhile, have tumbled 5% this year. A year ago, the Focus was 6713 sales ahead of the Corsa. This year the Focus has fallen out of second place and is nearly 8000 sales behind the Corsa.

Both Mercedes-Benz's C-Class and BMW's 3-Series cracked the top seven in September UK car sales standings. The C-Class also outsold the 3er in the U.S. last month. Peugeot made its first appearance since March with the 207's successor, the aptly named 208. The 207 ranked ninth in March and tenth in January.

Brand-by-brand rankings are coming up shortly. Key links to other editions of this list are clickable at the bottom of this post.

Rank	Best-Selling Car	September 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Ford Fiesta	18,651	+ 19.2%	88,747	+ 15.0%
#2	Vauxhall Corsa	17,089	+ 19.2%	72,475	+ 18.9%
#3	Ford Focus	13,837	- 6.2%	64,521	- 4.7%
#4	Vauxhall Astra	9864	- 5.7%	47,125	- 3.9%
#5	Volkswagen Golf	9270	- 12.8%	50,142	+ 0.3%
#6	Mercedes-Benz C-Class	7948	n/a	29,772	n/a
#7	BMW 3-Series	7726	+ 21.6%	34,340	+ 2.1%
#8	Nissan Qashqai	7471	+ 23.1%	35,865	+ 16.6%
#9	Volkswagen Polo	7291	- 15.3%	33,987	- 7.3%
#10	Peugeot 208	6741	n/a	n/a	n/a

Source: Manufacturers, MTI & SMMT
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The United Kingdom - October 2012
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - August 2012
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - September 2011
United Kingdom Auto Sales By Brand - September 2012
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - September 2012

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

After a one-month break in which its big brother took over as Britain's best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta was back on top in March 2012. Focus sales rose 5% year-over-year, but the Fiesta's growth from 19,676 units in March 2011 to 22,667 was more than enough to fend off the Focus and the better-selling Vauxhall Corsa. Together, the Fiesta and Focus accounted for seven out of every ten Fords sold in the United Kingdom in March. In the first quarter of 2012, 10% of all new vehicles sold in the UK were either Fiestas or Foci.

Along with the Corsa, one other Vauxhall belonged in the top 10 last month, though Astra sales suffered a 7% drop compared with March 2011. Two Volkswagens, the Polo and more popular Golf, landed in seventh and fourth, respectively. Nissan's Qashqai, pictured above, flew up the rankings from tenth to sixth with 47% gains. Qashqai sales are up 35% this year. The Peugeot 207, BMW 3-Series, and surprisingly successful Toyota Yaris filled in the remaining three spots. 

GoodCarBadCar will publish a full brand-by-brand rundown for UK auto sales in March soon; for now we offer this simple Easter interruption for the Sales Stats obsessed. Ford was the UK's top-selling brand, nonetheless, and Audi expanded its year-to-date lead over BMW to nearly 6000 registrations. March is traditionally a wildly lucrative time of year for new car dealerships in the United Kingdom. The third month of 2012 did not break with tradition: 66% of the first quarter's volume stemmed from March sales. 

The 10 best-selling cars in the United Kingdom from March 2012 are in the table below; pertinent links are clickable at the bottom of this post.

Rank	Best-Selling Car	March 2012	% Change	Year To Date	YTD % Change
#1	Ford Fiesta	22,667	+ 15.2%	33,390	+ 19.6%
#2	Vauxhall Corsa	17,271	+ 27.4%	23,750	+ 15.7%
#3	Ford Focus	15,086	+ 5.0%	24,442	+ 0.03%
#4	Volkswagen Golf	11,945	+ 16.2%	18,794	+ 9.9%
#5	Vauxhall Astra	9965	- 6.9%	14,894	- 13.7%
#6	Nissan Qashqai	8487	+ 46.9%	12,491	+ 35.0%
#7	Volkswagen Polo	7748	+ 1.5%	12,164	- 0.4%
#8	Toyota Yaris	6973	n/a	9126	n/a
#9	Peugeot 207	6948	- 3.4%	10,221	- 1.1%
#10	BMW 3-Series	6472	+ 6.0%	9579	- 5.5%

Source: Manufacturers, MTI & SMMT
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - April 2012
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - February 2012
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - March 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - March 2012
UK Auto Sales By Brand - March 2012

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

Above: The 3-door Audi A3, 
a car not sold in North America

The UK new car market enjoyed a very slight burst of optimism in January 2012 as volume increased 0.03% compared with January 2012. In terms of Britain's favourite vehicles, however, many were significantly less popular this year than last. 

The United Kingdom's best-selling car in January was the Ford Fiesta, and it certainly was not less popular this year than last.

This strange downward fluctuations aren't such a strange occurrence in the United Kingdom new vehicle market. Volume is small and thus prone to serious swings. Nevertheless, the vehicles ranked second through sixth on this list of the UK's ten best-selling cars - and that's half the list - posted year-over-year declines averaging 15%. Collectively, those five vehicles reported a 17.3% drop. 

Considering the 21% decline reported by GM's Vauxhall brand in January 2012, we shouldn't be surprised to see that the company's two best-selling nameplates fell 17% and 26%. But Volkswagen's best-selling car, the Golf, was down 3% even as the VW brand climbed 5%. Meanwhile, January 2011's best-selling car, the Ford Focus, lost its crown to 2011's best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta, as Focus sales slid 26% and Fiesta sales soared 34%.

GoodCarBadCar.net does not possess an in-house UK auto market expert, so we'll leave you to the numbers. One interesting fact: 53.7% of all new vehicles sold were fitted with diesel engines, up from 50.5% in January 2011. Check out brand-by-brand rankings for the UK car market's January 2012 performance here. For now, check out the top 10 best-selling cars in the United Kingdom for January 2012 before examining, for context's sake, previous versions through the links below the table.

Rank	Best-Selling Car	January 2012	% Change
#1	Ford Fiesta	7824	+ 33.9%
#2	Ford Focus	5643	- 25.6%
#3	Volkswagen Golf	3992	- 2.9%
#4	Vauxhall Corsa	3624	- 16.9%
#5	Vauxhall Astra	3340	- 25.9%
#6	Volkswagen Polo	2898	- 3.7%
#7	Vauxhall Insignia	2719	+ 21.6%
#8	Nissan Qashqai	2627	+ 24.6%
#9	Audi A3	2380	n/a
#10	Peugeot 207	2364	+ 8.9%

Source: Manufacturers, MTI & SMMT
Red font indicates year-over-year declining sales

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - February 2012
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - 2011 Year End
UK Auto Sales By Brand - January 2012
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - December 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - January 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America -  January 2012

New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In Mexico - June 2011 Year-To-Date

Through six months of 2010 19.5% of all auto sales in Mexico belonged to General Motors. This year that figure dropped to 18.6%. 10% was Chrysler's number at this point last year; this year it's down to 9.6%. Ford Motor Company's Mexican auto market share has also dropped, from 10.5% to 9.6% in Dearborn's case.

To which automakers did the Mexican market fly? Before we get to that, it's important to understand that on pure volume terms, General Motors sales were up 6.2% in the first half of 2011. Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep was up 8%. And excluding Lincoln, Ford was up 3.6%. 

More to the point, however, Nissan's decent 14.4% year-over-year gain and dramatic Renault's 42.5% jump resulted in market share which grew from 25.5% in the first half of 2010 to 26.7% in the first half of 2011.

Smaller companies like Seat (part of the Volkswagen Group in the chart below) made inroads as well. Climbing from 1.7% to 2.1% on its own, Seat helped the VW Group/Porsche improve by two percentage points to 17.6%. European brands owned 20.8% of the overall Mexican automotive market at the halfway point last year. In 2011, that number jumped to 23.3%. Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz - Mexico's three most popular premium brands - accounted for 5.2% of the total market's 42,159 new sales.

In the first six months of 2011 the Mexican auto market was worth 413,126 new vehicles. That's just one for every 272 residents of Mexico. In the United States, for example, a market which isn't doing all that well of late, new vehicles were acquired by one out of every 49 residents. 

That's an astounding contrast, one which can be traced back to a battle in which wealth challenges poverty and wins. But there's more to it than the impoverished state in which many Mexicans live. Consider the peso prices of cars. The gorgeous Peugeot RCZ pictured above is priced from $499,900 in Mexico, equal to $39,947 USD today. In the United Kingdom, not the cheapest place to buy cars, the Peugeot RCZ starts at £21,245, equal to $34,543 USD today. An Audi S4? That'll cost you about $66,000 USD in Mexico, $61,000 USD in the UK, or $47,300 in the United States. The 2011 Chevrolet Suburban starts at the equivalent of $49,000 USD in Mexico; just $41,335 in the U.S.

The chart below doesn't deal with such discrepancies, however. Take 413,126 Mexican auto sales, divide them up, and this is what you get.

CLICK THE CHART FOR A LARGER VIEW

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Mexico Auto Sales By Brand (With Market Share Chart - September 2011 YTD
Mexico Auto Market Share By Brand - Q1 Of 2011
Mexico Auto Sales By Brand - 2011's First Half
U.S. Auto Market Share By Brand - June 2011
Canada Auto Market Share By Brand - June 2011
UK Auto Market Share By Brand - June 2011

Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - March 2011

50% of Britain's 10 best-selling cars are presently on sale in North America. Among those five vehicles, however, there are significant differences between the European and North American versions. Take the top-selling Fiesta as an example. Available here as a sedan and 5-door hatchback with only one powerplant, the Fiesta in UK dealers is exclusively hatched (3 and 5-door) and is sold with six different engines. Ford posted a 16.9% year-over-year drop in Fiesta sales in March. Overall, Ford UK sales dropped 14.9%.

Marketing cars with numerous engine options is perfectly common practice Across The Pond. So while American auto enthusiasts get excited (and don't buy) the diesel-powered $44,150 BMW 335d, Brits can buy the tenth-best-selling 3-Series with one of seven diesels. Power climbs from 116 horses in the £24,560 316d through the 204 in the £29,840 325d up to the 286-horsepower £38,950 335d. The 3-Series trailed BMW's own Mini by 1301 units in March but was the best-selling premium brand car. Speaking of premium brands, BMW sold 17,987 cars in the UK in March, up 9.2% from March 2010. Audi sold 2749 more vehicles than BMW in the UK last month. Also, Mini found 9319 UK buyers in the 31 days of March.

Peugeot, Vauxhall, and Volkswagen all posted sales declines for their overall fleets. Excluding sales from last year's scrappage scheme, the UK auto market was up 5.9% versus the actual 7.9% decline. SMMT's Paul Everitt said March is, "traditionally the biggest month of the year," and added that, "the market remains on course to meet SMMT's forecast for the year with motorists buying increasingly fuel-efficient and low emitting vehicles across every segment."

Here then are the Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK for March 2011. If you have a source for the missing historical figures, leave a comment.

Rank	Car	Status	March 2011	Last Month	March 2010
#1	Ford Fiesta	↑	19,676	2404	23,681
#2	Ford Focus	↑	14,370	2483	17,989
#3	Vauxhall Corsa	↓	13,556	2617	15,088
#4	Vauxhall Astra	↑	10,704	2036	15,326
#5	Volkswagen Golf	↓	10,282	2709	9976
#6	Vauxhall Insignia	↔	7826	1842	n/a
#7	Volkswagen Polo	↑	7634	1570	7580
#8	Peugeot 207	↑	7189	n/a	8926
#9	Mini	↑	7404	n/a	7919
#10	BMW 3-Series	↑	6103	n/a	n/a

*Source: MTI, SMMT

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - March 2012
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - April 2011
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - February 2011
UK New Vehicle Market Share - March 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In America - March 2011
Top 20 Best-Selling Cars In Canada - March 2011

UK Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End

The Good Car Guy doesn't profess to be an expert on the UK new car market. Rather than offer up extensive analysis on what you see below, this table has been uniquely configured to let you know what you want to know: how the UK car market compare with the U.S. car market. In the far right, you'll see the 2010 Year End ranking for each brand from the U.S. Auto Sales By Brand post. As you'll see, some automobile manufacturers fare similarly in the United Kingdom and the United States, Ford most notably. Other Detroit-run brands, in addition to Lexus and Subaru as examples, are little-known in the UK but strong in the U.S. 

Then there are those British brands which we in North America know as niche players. But in Britain? Mini, Land Rover, and Jaguar all finish far higher up the UK standings than in the U.S. Also, you might have to do some Googling. Perodua? Ssangyong? 

This is the wrap-up of UK Auto Sales By Brand for 2010.

Rank	Automaker	2010	% Change	2009	U.S. Rank
#1	Ford	280,634	-11.4	316,369	#1
#2	Vauxhall	247,265	+4	237,840	-----
#3	Volkswagen	174,655	+8.4	161,137	#12
#4	BMW	109,418	+10.9	98,683	#16
#5	Peugeot	109,324	+6.6	102,574	-----
#6	Audi	99,828	+9.5	91,172	#23
#7	Renault	95,608	+51.3	63,174	-----
#8	Nissan	89,681	+15.1	77,924	#5
#9	Toyota	87,396	-14.8	102,612	#3
#10	Mercedes-Benz	74,977	+3.7	72,281	#15
#11	Citroen	73,317	+1.2	72,450	-----
#12	Honda	63,652	-14.9	74,819	#4
#13	Hyundai	61,752	+8.9	56,726	#6
#14	Kia	56,144	+10.8	50,637	#8
#15	Fiat	53,093	-12	60,337	-----
#16	Mazda	45,449	-5.2	47,394	#13
#17	Mini	43,894	+10.1	39,866	#29
#18	Skoda	41,240	+10.7	37,253	-----
#19	Volvo	37,435	+7.4	34,857	#27
#20	Land Rover	37,272	+27.7	29,185	#30
#21	SEAT	32,935	+9.8	39,987	-----
#22	Suzuki	21,484	-24.7	28,539	#32
#23	Jaguar	16,417	-10	18,234	#33
#24	Chevrolet	13,680	-26.8	18,696	#2
#25	Mitsubishi	12,209	+10.3	11,074	#26
#26	Alfa Romeo	8834	-2.6	9067	-----
#27	smart	7651	-8.5	8363	#34
#28	Porsche	6784	+28.5	5280	#31
#29	Lexus	6202	-14.6	7266	#14
#30	Saab	5898	-21.2	7486	#35
#31	Subaru	3897	+4.5	3730	#11
#32	Jeep	2078	-17	2502	#10
#33	Abarth	1425	+3.2	1381	-----
#34	Chrysler	1392	-48.3	2692	#18
#35	Aston Martin	1080	-8.7	1183	#39*
#36	Bentley	993	+30.5	761	#37
#37	Dodge	789	-70.5	2672	#7
#38	Proton	767	-20.1	960	-----
#39	Perodua	761	+17.1	650	-----
#40	Lotus	577	+19	485	#40*
#41	MG	282	-24.6	374	-----
#42	Ssangyong	242	-69.3	787	-----
#43	Infiniti	232	+415.6	45	#22
#44	Daihatsu	170	-92.6	2306	-----
#45	Cadillac	24	-86.4	177	#20

Source: SMMT 
*estimate

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
UK Auto Sales By Brand - 2011 Year End
UK Auto Sales By Brand - June 2011 & Year-To-Date
UK Auto Sales By Brand - January 2011
U.S. Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End
Canada Auto Sales By Brand - 2010 Year End
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - 2010 Year End
New Vehicle Market Share By Brand In The UK - 2010 Year End