The ten best-selling cars of 2017

2017 was a difficult year for the car industry, especially for those brands heavily reliant on selling diesel cars. After a record-breaking first three months, the market started to fall and just kept on falling. The market was more than 6% up after March, but then the last nine months saw a fall of more than 10% on the same period last year, leading to an overall result that was just under 6% down in total. Private and small business sales fell more than larger fleets, and diesel cars took a massive hammering. The industry is pointing the finger of blame Brexit, the government and anyone else they could think of, although no-one wanted to put their hands up and accept that the industry has created its own mess with its addiction to PCP and PCH finance deals, which looks like it has come back to bite hard. The forecast for 2018 is for continued decline, although hopefully things will start to stabilise. However, it’s not doom and gloom for everyone. Some cars kept rolling out of showrooms at a rapid pace, keeping the dealers, manufacturers and finance companies happy. These are the UK’s ten best-selling cars of 2017. It’s important to remember that the official numbers refer to ‘registrations’ rather than ‘sales’, as some manufacturers engage in a lot of pre-registration shenanigans to boost their sales numbers. 10. Mercedes-Benz A-Class (new entry) It’s been around since 2012, but the current model Mercedes-Benz A-Class has continued to rise through the ranks each year. Strong residual values, along with competitive pricing and finance deals, have helped the A-Class knock its biggest rival, the Audi A3, out of the top ten best-selling cars list. The A-Class has hit the top ten in what is likely to be its last full year before a replacement model comes along before the end of 2018. Interestingly, A-Class sales do not include the CLA saloon (it’s not a coupé, despite what Mercedes wants you to believe), whereas the next-generation model is likely to receive a saloon model (precisely like the Audi A3, in fact) and the CLA is likely to be killed off. So the A-Class may see increased sales numbers over the next year or two. More Mercedes-Benz news, reviews and features at The Car Expert Next page: Moving up the alphabet 9. Mercedes-Benz C-Class (2016: 9th) The eternal battle between the Audi A4, BMW 3 Series and Mercedes-Benz C-Class is one of the most keenly-fought rivalries in the car industry, and once again the Mercedes has taken the honours in 2017. Fleet sales are very important to this contest, and the C-Class’ success suggests that Mercedes has done a better job of wooing fleet buyers than its fellow Germans. In fact, among the best-selling cars of 2017, this was the most popular saloon model of any manufacturer. So Mondeo Man has essentially become Mercedes Man. He’s probably a lot happier about that than Ford is... The Mercedes-Benz C-Class has remained in ninth position, although sales rose by more than 1,700 or nearly 4% in a falling marketplace (45,912 registrations in 2017 vs. 44,184 in 2016). Having been on sale since 2014, we expect to see a facelift for the C-Class this year, probably revealed at the Geneva motor show in March before going on sale here in the UK by summer. More Mercedes-Benz news, reviews and features at The Car Expert Next page: The British Job 8. Mini hatchback (2016: 8th) The Mini held position in 2017, with very similar numbers to the year before – a 1% drop in a market that fell by nearly 6%. (47,669 registrations in 2017 vs. 48,328 in 2016). The unmistakeable brick-like styling of the Mini remains popular in its home UK market, despite each new model getting larger and more bloated than the one before. In fact, the Mini’s continuity of design and its ongoing success tends to suggest that other brands may do better not trying to reinvent themselves every five minutes. Facelifted models have been spotted testing, although it’s likely that any visual changes will be minor. Expect to see an updated Mini hatchback shown at either the Detroit or Geneva motor shows, then arriving in our showrooms sometime during summer. Will it be enough to keep the Mini in the list of best sellers this time next year? More Mini news, reviews and features at The Car Expert Next page: Anyone for Polo? 7. Volkswagen Polo (2016: 7th) This was a run-out year for the outgoing Volkswagen Polo, with the first of the all-new model hitting showrooms about now. A big push to clear stocks of the old model saw the Polo start the year strongly, but in then fell out of the top ten charts in the last few months as supply essentially ran out ahead of production starting on the new car. The Polo held its seventh position from 2016, despite a 12% drop of more than 6,000 sales (47,855 registrations in 2017 vs. 54,448 in 2016) as sales tailed off at the end of the year. It just edged out MINI hatch in the final numbers by less than 200 sales. Whether the new model can maintain the momentum will depend on how aggressive Volkswagen gets with its PCP offers, and whether there will ever be any real consumer pushback against Volkswagen for its ongoing Dieselgate scandal (which now appears unlikely). More Volkswagen news, reviews and features at The Car Expert Next page: Falling without actually falling 6. Vauxhall Astra (2016: 6th) The latest Vauxhall Astra has been rightly praised as a massive improvement on its predecessor, and is certainly better than many other offerings out there. Yet it has continued to be comprehensively outsold by the comparatively ancient Ford Focus. The Astra held its sixth position ranking in the best-selling cars of 2017, despite a 19% fall of more than 11,000 sales (49,370 registrations in 2017 vs. 60,719 in 2016). Has the media coverage of Vauxhall’s sale by GM to Groupe PSA had a negative impact on sales? The Astra’s two biggest rivals, the Ford Focus and Volkswagen Golf, both enjoyed excellent sales results in 2017, so it’s not like buyers have completely abandoned family hatchbacks in favour of SUVs. We don’t expect things to improve greatly for 2018. That’s a great shame for Vauxhall and its workers at Ellesmere Port here in the UK who build the Astra, and it comes on top of today’s news that PSA is going to cut another 250 jobs at Ellesmere Port. Unless things improve soon, there is the very real possibility that Astra production could move to Poland. What can the company’s new French owners do to create more sales? Read The Car Expert review of the Vauxhall Astra More Vauxhall news, reviews and features at The Car Expert Next page: The biggest loser of the top ten 5. Vauxhall Corsa (2016: 2nd) Vauxhall’s other representative in the ten best-selling cars of 2017 is the Corsa supermini hatchback, and it has the unfortunate title of biggest fall in sales in this list. The Corsa took a battering this year, dropping more than 24,000 units or 38% on the previous year. (52,772 registrations in 2017 vs. 77,110 in 2016). Ranking wise, the Corsa fell from second place in 2016 to fifth in the best-selling cars of 2017. The coming year doesn’t look any better for the Corsa. The all-new Ford Fiesta is hitting its straps now that supply is fully up to speed, and there are many newer (and better) rivals on the market. The Corsa is not a bad car, but it’s not up to the levels of rivals like the new Volkswagen Polo, SEAT Ibiza or the all-conquering Fiesta. Read The Car Expert review of the Vauxhall Corsa More Vauxhall news, reviews and features at The Car Expert Next page: The unstoppable Nissan 4. Nissan Qashqai (2016: 5th) It doesn’t seem to matter that virtually every car manufacturer has launched a compact SUV to compete in the market that the Qashqai virtually created, the mid-sized Nissan crossover keeps on beating them all away with a stick. A facelifted model arrived in the middle of 2017, which helped keep sales ticking along, and it seems that the Nissan Qashqai can do no wrong. Sales were up by 2.4% in 2017, and the Qashqai improved from 5th to 4th in the top ten list (64,216 registrations in 2017 vs. 62,682 in 2016), helped by the Corsa’s plunge from second to fifth. With optional new semi-autonomous driving features set to be added to the range this year, Nissan will be hoping that it can maintain the Qashqai’s momentum through 2018. Read The Car Expert review of the Nissan Qashqai More Nissan news, reviews and features at The Car Expert Next page: A very focused result 3. Ford Focus (2016: 3rd) 2017 was the last full year for the current-generation Ford Focus, with a new model on the horizon for 2018. Holding steady in third place, with almost identical sales numbers to 2016 and against a whole host of newer rivals, will rightly be considered an excellent result at Ford HQ. The Focus saw less than 1% drop in sales volumes, and even topped the charts in July (69,903 registrations in 2017 vs. 70,545 in 2016). The Focus has always been a fleet favourite, so it’s highly likely that there were some spectacular deals for big fleets to buy large numbers of the current model. An all-new model is expected to roll out in summer, and should help keep Focus sales ticking along for another year. Read The Car Expert review of the Ford Focus More Ford news, reviews and features at The Car Expert Next page: Proof that crime does pay? 2. Volkswagen Golf (2016: 4th) Proof that crime does pay? Volkswagen had a record year worldwide in 2017, despite the Dieselgate scandal that won’t go away. The company flogged 5,000 more Golfs in the UK this year than last (74,605 registrations in 2017 vs. 69,492 in 2016). If registration numbers here and around the world are anything to go by, customers don’t seem to care that Volkswagen cheated emissions tests and lied to the world about it for years. The level of smugness in Wolfsburg right now must be astronomical. There’s no word on how the balance of Golf sales may have shifted from diesel to petrol, but Volkswagen’s success while the rest of the industry suffers...

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6. Vauxhall Astra (2016: 6th)

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