The Ford Fiesta was the UK's most-registered new car once again in 2019, although demand fell from 95,892 units in 2018 to 77,833 units last year.
That largely reflects pent-up demand for the new model 12 months ago, although the overall level of new car registrations fell by 2.3% across the year.
Notably, while the Fiesta outsold the second-placed Volkswagen Golf by more than 30,000 units in 2018, the gap was less than 20,000 in 2019, despite the latter model being in its run-out year. The Ford Focus took second place.
You can read about the overall new car registration levels for 2019 here. A brand-by-brand breakdown highlighting the winners and losers of 2019 is also available here.
Britain’s best-selling cars of 2019
1. Ford Fiesta - 77,833 units
Britain’s perennial favourite continues to top the charts, despite pressure from lower-priced rivals and the temptations of cheap PCP finance rates for some premium models. Little wonder, though, because it has a 4.5-star Autocar road test verdict, scoring well for ride, handling, interior quality and a smooth engine range.
2. Volkswagen Golf - 58,944 units
Set to be replaced early in 2020, the Mk7 Golf is going out on a high, thanks to the model's perennial popularity and some tempting discounts for canny buyers as dealers looked to run out stock levels.
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Just 2 out of 10 are built in Britain
Only the Qashqai and Mini of that top 10 are British built, and only the Qashqai and Fiesta were wholly designed and engineered in the UK (other Ford models are developed in Merkenich).
Check out the German top 10: 6 out of 10 are German built, 8 out of 10 from the VAG family. All 10 are German designed and engineered.
France: the entire top 10 is "French" if you count Renault's sub-brand Dacia (Romanian obvs). Mind you, maybe they haven't cottoned on that the 208 and C3 are now solely made in Slovakia. All 10 are French designed and engineered.
Too late for us to mull over what went wrong with UK manufacturing, and why engineering has such a dirty name and fails to attract enough UK students. But what could we as a country do to foster a stronger engineering and manufacturing base and what can we do to make people buy British again?
@autoindustryinsider - There
It comes down to whether you want the UK to do well
It comes down to whether you want the UK to do well or not. Most people buying a new car chose an imported brand, and voted Brexit.
By contrast, French buy French and Germans buy German. No wonder our industry is on its uppers and looking at a bleak future.
I'm not surprised that the
I'm not surprised that the Corsa is still doing well. Sure there have been loads of offers on them, but I don't think the new model will appeal to the same audience as the old one, so maybe buyers are getting them whilst they can. Similarly with the Golf: The forthcoming model is very similar to the current one, but with a much more complicated interior. I'd go for the current one if it were me.
catnip wrote:
I'm not sure if this is sarcasm or not. Or maybe you're really Jeremy Corbyn and living in a little bubble avoiding reality
Getting a Corsa while they can.... A queue of people waiting for a misshapen and totally average or below car?
Avoiding the new Golf because it's more complicated....
What is the 'Other' car in the December Top Ten bestsellers?
On the SMMT website, in the December 2019 bestsellers list, the 8th car is not specified. It just says 'Other'. I've never seen this happen before.
Until proven otherwise, I am just going to assume that this is the Tesla Model 3. Perhaps the UK car industry doesn't want to admit it?
On a similar note of changing markets, it's worth checking out a new BBC Radio 4 investigation called 'The World Turned Upside Down'. The implications for the traditional automotive manufacturers are profound.
Spot on Hipo
I read last year it was to do with a technical issue on the SMMT database and it didn't have the ng the Tesla Model 3 name on it's database (probably would have found it if it was a Diesel though (lol))
Wonder if Tesla is a memeber of the SMMT?
I looked this up the last
I looked this up the last time it happened - it is the Model 3.