The Ford Fiesta was the most popular new car in the UK in 2016 – as it has been for many years.
According to new figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT), a total of 120,525 Ford Fiesta models were registered in the UK over the year. This was more than 43,000 ahead of the runner-up in the new car top ten, the Vauxhall Corsa.
However the 77,110 registrations of the Corsa remain a strong performance in a year that saw Vauxhall fighting negative publicity resulting from at times misguided fire reports in older models.
The Ford Focus claims third place on 70,545 registrations, nosing ahead of its family hatch rival the Volkswagen Golf (69,492). And the Nissan Qashqai retains top spot in the booming crossover market, fifth overall on 62,682.
Meanwhile the SMMT figures highlight which manufacturers had a strong 2016 and which suffered. The highest growth in percentage terms came from Infiniti, the Nissan luxury brand up almost 142%. However its 2,891 cars registered represents a market share of only 0.1%.
Similarly registrations for Abarth, the Fiat performance brand, are up 45% but represent only 3,966 cars, 0.15% market share, while the 41% growth from Bentley sees the number of cars registered up by just 569 cars, to 1,948.
Much more impressive is the 45% rise recorded by Jaguar, which registered almost 11,000 more cars in 2016 taking the British manufacturer’s total to 34,822. Sister brand Land Rover was up 20% at 79,534.
Premium makes target volume
The figures tell a less rosy tale for the volume manufacturers. Ford registered more UK cars than any other manufacturer in 2016, at 318,316. This represents almost 12% of the entire market but is 5% down on 2015.
Second biggest maker remains Vauxhall with 250,955 registrations, down almost 7%. The 207,028 recorded by Volkswagen is a slide of 8%. And the clue could be in the next largest figures – the 182,593 registrations of BMW are up 9%, the 177,304 of Audi up 6%, and Mercedes-Benz with 169,828 up a very strong 17%. It seems more buyers than ever are realising they can own premium models previously thought of as unobtainable.
And the largest slide on the UK market? If one ignores Chevrolet, still recorded despite no longer being officially sold in the UK, the wooden spoon goes to Mitsubishi. The Japanese brand registered 18,237 cars in 2016, almost 20% fewer than in 2017.
