2024 was quite the year for the car industry. New car registrations increased by 2.6% compared with the year before, while the Ford Puma was crowned the best-seller.
The Blue Oval’s small SUV topped the charts for the second consecutive year – but it dropped down to seventh place in January 2025, according to newly released data.
While Tesla saw some losses in the first month of January, the brand achieved some major success in February. While the Mini Cooper was the month's best-selling car with 2074 units sold, the second and third spots were claimed by the Tesla Model 3 (1990 units) and the Tesla Model Y (1861 units).
The Model Y was the best-selling electric car (and fifth best-selling overall car) in 2024 but still doesn't quite feature in the top ten - though we're expecting that to change.
EV sales dropped slightly (-1%) year on year in February, and the UK is still lagging well behind ZEV mandate targets - to the point where the industry is calling on the UK government to have a car tax rethink.
Keep reading to find out the top 10 best-selling new cars for 2025 so far, according to the SMMT’s registration data.
The most popular new cars of 2025
1. Kia Sportage – 4992 units
The Kia Sportage finished fourth in the sales charts in 2024, and we suspect the people in Seoul will be thrilled to start the year in first.
Consistency is the key to this family SUV. It entered its fifth generation at the tail end of 2022 and still looks fresh, eye-catching and modern.
Its mild-hybrid, full-hybrid and plug-in hybrid powertrains ensure a great variety for buyers, too.
Read our Kia Sportage review
2. Nissan Qashqai – 4948 units
The Nissan Qashqai was the UK's best-seller in 2022, but it has since been outpaced by rivals, finishing second in 2023 and third in 2024.
That said, it's still extremely popular and continues to appeal to buyers here with its excellent practicality.
The British-built family crossover's appeal has also no doubt been bolstered by the addition of electrified powertrains for its third generation.
Read our Nissan Qashqai review
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Certainly the roads are full of Kia these days,must be a lot bought on finance.
I dont get your point, well over 90% of all cars are bought on finance.
Interesting article but it only paints a very superficial picture. Yes it's good for people to know the top 10 at macro level. But given all commercial dynamics that occurred in 2024 due to ZEV, economic headwinds, and and and, the OEMs behind these nameplates have pumped significant discounts to push volumes ie. in Motability channels, Fleets, LTR, rent-a-car, etc (& many more non-private channels). The top 10 is not a reflection of what those vehicles are. This info should not only be reserved to Business readers.
The article is labelled top 10 sellers, it shows the top 10 sellers and reflects what gets registered numerical, a nice and simple statistic showing what cars sell the most. It's one of the most commented articles on this website.
The Puma seats inbetween the Fiesta and Focus both of which regularly appeared in the top 5, so by taking one out and running the other into the ground, discontinued this year, they're almost certainly down on total sales and limiting choice to Ford die-hards.