Monday, January 7, 2013

December 2012 And 2012 Year End United Kingdom Auto Sales By Brand

2012 Land Rover Defender
Not Their Biggest Seller, But Land
Rover's Defender Is Positively British
Residents of the United Kingdom registered 2.04 million new vehicles in the twelve months of 2012, a 5.3% improvement over 2011. Car registrations in the UK haven't been this high since 2008 when, at the time, sales had reached what was thought to be a low point.

December 2012 was predictably the third-lowest sales month of the year. We won't spend much time analyzing December numbers, but it should be noted that BMW outsold Volkswagen in the final month of the year. Among major brands, BMW's 35% year-over-year increase in December was topped only by Kia, Honda, and Fiat.

Brands and manufacturers are ranked by 2012 year end volume in the two tables below. (This explains why, before sorting, Volkswagen is shown above BMW, and Audi above Nissan.) Fortunately, as you might have already guessed, this post is the first to include a new GoodCarBadCar.net feature: it's sortable. Click any of the headings in order to sort all 43 brands by name, December 2012 sales, year-over-year change from December 2011, year end volume, or year-over-year change for the full year as compared with 2011. While we regret not offering this feature in the past, it's an exciting addition. At any time, click the column heading again to switch the direction.

UK auto sales market share chart December 2012
Click December 2012 Market
Share Chart For Larger View
In 2012, Ford was most definitely the best-selling automotive brand in the United Kingdom. Lacking partner brands, however, Ford didn't come close to challenging the Volkswagen Group for the overall lead in new car registrations. The VW Group - Audi, Bentley, Porsche, Seat, Skoda, Volkswagen - generated a 7% improvement to 408,385 sales in 2012. That 7% jump was topped by Hyundai-Kia, up 21%, and the gains made by Toyota, Daimler, Fiat, JLR, and BMW.

As for British brands, Lotus was the only deep disappointment in 2012. Sales plunged 58% from 2011's already low 329 sales, which you might recall, was down from 43% from 577 in 2010. Jaguar and Mini were up just 2.3% and 2.4%, respectively, but Land Rover registrations shot up 29%, undoubtedly helped by the addition of the Range Rover Evoque.


What do North American car enthusiasts know of British car culture? Historically, the magazine covers we saw included plenty of WRX Imprezas and Mitsubishi Evos. Subaru UK won't be selling the WRX any longer, not that it was helping much. Subaru sales plummeted 23% in 2012, dragging the brand down to a ranking of 32, behind smart, Chrysler, and Jeep. Meanwhile, Mitsubishi sales fell 33.5% in 2012. Neither of these two brands fared well in 2011, either, as Subaru had already dropped 32% and Mitsubishi slid 19% before 2012 brought with it further declines.

UK 2012 year end auto sales market share chart
Click 2012 Market Share
Chart For Larger View
BMW's late surge produced a premium brand victory for the Munich brand over Ingolstadt's Audi in 2012. Audi's lead had appeared tenuous, but BMW's 35% jump in December, combined with Audi's 24% decline, was certainly enough to undo what Audi had done. Sales victories aren't the be-all and end-all. Audi UK sales jumped 9% in 2012 in a market which rose just 5%. Moreover, Audi ended the year as the United Kingdom's fifth-best-selling brand. Compare that with what the brand achieved in Canada and the United States.

UK 2012 auto sales figures for 43 brands are in the first table below. The twelve largest automotive conglomerates are then shown in a secondary table, which is also sortable. GoodCarBadCar.net posted the UK's best-selling cars earlier this morning. Click either of the two accompanying market share pie charts in this post for larger views.

Click Any Column Heading To Sort Table By Rank, Automaker, % Change etc.
Rank
Automaker
December 2012

Change
2012
Year End
Year End 
% Change
#1
Ford
15,656
+ 6.6%
281,917
+ 6.0%
#2
Vauxhall
16,272
+ 3.1%
232,255
- 1.1%
#3
Volkswagen
9651
- 8.5%
183,098
+ 2.1%
#4
BMW
10,175
+ 35.0%
127,530
+ 9.3%
#5
Audi
4786
- 24.2%
123,622
+ 8.6%
#6
Nissan
6441
+ 11.3%
105,835
+ 9.9%
#7
Peugeot
4757
+ 2.5%
99,486
+ 4.7%
#8
Mercedes-Benz
5261
+ 9.3%
91,855
+ 12.2%
#9
Toyota
4149
- 24.5%
84,563
+ 14.9%
#10
Hyundai
5551
+ 2.4%
74,285
+ 18.1%
#11
Citroen
3935
- 2.4%
73,656
+ 7.6%
#12
Kia
3890
+ 55.0%
66,629
+ 24.3%
#13
Honda
3331
+ 47.3%
54,208
+ 7.2%
#14
Skoda
3199
+ 11.2%
53,602
+ 19.0%
#15
Mini
4499
+ 5.2%
51,324
+ 2.4%
#16
Fiat
3260
+ 48.0%
49,907
+ 19.9%
#17
Land Rover
2532
- 7.8%
48,626
+ 29.2%
#18
Renault
3733
- 17.9%
40,760
- 40.5%
#19
Seat
2799
+ 12.6%
38,798
+ 7.5%
#20
Volvo
2030
+ 1.5%
31,790
- 2.7%
#21
Mazda
970
- 40.7%
26,183
- 16.1%
#22
Suzuki
1564
+ 28.0%
24,893
+ 22.7%
#23
Jaguar
1054
+ 29.6%
14,109
+ 2.3%
#24
Chevrolet
436
- 38.2%
13,476
+ 7.6%
#25
Lexus
390
- 42.9%
8404
+ 1.6%
#26
Porsche
761
+ 6.0%
7998
+ 25.3%
#27
Alfa Romeo
290
- 52.3%
7253
- 37.3%
#28
Mitsubishi
735
+ 56.7%
6549
- 33.5%
#29
Smart
514
+ 53.4%
5616
+ 11.3%
#30
Chrysler
135
+ 23.9%
3333
+ 182.0%
#31
Jeep
120
- 43.7%
2306
+ 7.5%
#32
Subaru
92
- 34.8%
2023
- 23.2%
#33
Abarth
120
+ 53.9%
1292
+ 0.8%
#34
Bentley
83
+ 62.8%
1267
+ 22.2%
#35
Aston Martin
64
+ 20.8%
932
- 9.0%
#36
Ssangyong
65
+ 27.5%
875
+ 351%
#37
MG
93
- 16.2%
782
+ 117%
#38
Infiniti
42
+ 23.5%
530
+ 38.7%
#39
Perodua
22
+ 4.8%
416
- 23.4%
#40
Maserati
14
- 22.2%
309
- 20.4%
#41
Saab
0
- 100%
232
- 94.4%
#42
Proton
1
- 95.2%
208
- 53.4%
#43
Lotus
14
+ 40.0%
137
- 58.4%

Click Any Column Heading To Sort Table By Rank, Automaker, % Change etc.
Rank
Automaker
December 2012

Change
2012
Year End
YTD 
% Change
#1
Volkswagen
Group
21,279
- 7.4%
408,385
+ 7.0%
#2
Ford
Motor Company
15,656
+ 6.6%
281,917
+ 6.0%
#3
General Motors
16,708
+ 1.3%
245,731
- 0.6%
#4
BMW-Mini
14,674
+ 24.2%
178,854
+ 7.2%
#5
PSA
Peugeot
& Citroen
8692
+ 0.2%
173,142
+ 5.9%
#6
RNA
Renault, Nissan
& Infiniti 
10,216
- 1.5%
147,125
- 10.9%
#7
Hyundai-Kia
9441
+ 19.0%
140,914
+ 20.9%
#8
Daimler AG
5775
+ 12.1%
97,471
+ 12.1%
#9
Toyota UK
4539
- 26.5%
92,967
+ 13.6%
#11
Fiat Group &
Chrysler-Jeep
4384
+ 35.8%
64,845
+ 10.8%
#10
Jaguar-Land Rover
3586
+ 7.3%
62,735
+ 22.0%
#12
Honda
3331
+ 47.3%
54,208
+ 7.2%
---
Total
123,557+ 3.7%2,044,609+ 5.3%
Source: Automakers & SMMT

Related From GoodCarBadCar.net
UK Auto Sales Brand Rankings - 2011 Year End
UK Auto Sales Brand Rankings - November 2012
UK Auto Sales Brand Rankings - December 2011
Historical Monthly & Yearly UK Total Car Market Size Figures
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - 2012 Year End
Top 10 Best-Selling Cars In The UK - December 2012

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