Top 10: UK car sales 2017 - winners and losers

2017 saw 2,540,617 new cars registered in the UK, a 5.7% reduction compared to 2016. However, as in previous years, some manufacturers bucked the overall market trend, while others most definitely contributed to it.

Most of the over-performing marques were decidedly low-volume players, so their small absolute unit increases resulted in large percentage gains.

McLaren 570S Spider (2018) Front Side
2017: A great year for McLaren.

One notable anomaly was Seat, which managed to grow by almost a fifth. To put that achievement into context, the Spanish firm delivered more cars than Honda, Citroën or Fiat.

Top 10: Total UK Car Registrations 2017 - Winners
Manufacturer 2017 2016 Change Change %
McLaren 567 18 549 3,050.0%
Chevrolet 70 4 66 1,650.0%
Aston Martin 1,471 906 565 62.4%
Infiniti 3,515 2,891 624 21.6%
Maserati 1,701 1,435 266 18.5%
Seat 56,130 47,456 8,674 18.3%
Abarth 4,441 3,966 475 12.0%
Porsche 14,051 13,097 954 7.3%
Mercedes-Benz 180,970 169,828 11,142 6.6%
MG 4,441 4,192 249 5.9%
Total Market 2,540,617 2,692,786 -152,169 -5.7%

The losers’ table tells a very different story. With a few exceptions, the worst performers were non-premium producers. That probably says a lot about customers’ changing tastes and their higher expectations.

French-owned brands especially seem to have suffered, because Citroën, DS, Peugeot, Renault and Vauxhall all appear on the list. Indeed, Vauxhall – now a PSA subsidiary – accounted for a third of the industry’s total registrations decline by shifting 55,818 fewer vehicles.

Vauxhall Insignia GSi (2018) Front Side
2017: A dreadful year for Vauxhall.

Top 10: Total UK Car Registrations 2017 - Losers
Manufacturer 2017 2016 Change Change %
Jeep 6,380 14,090 -7,710 -54.7%
DS 9,082 15,898 -6,816 -42.9%
Fiat 44,475 60,581 -16,106 -26.6%
Subaru 2,679 3,612 -933 -25.8%
Vauxhall 195,137 250,955 -55,818 -22.2%
SsangYong 3,590 4,444 -854 -19.2%
Renault 69,110 85,102 -15,992 -18.8%
Citroën 51,455 62,991 -11,536 -18.3%
Lotus 279 339 -60 -17.7%
Peugeot 82,226 98,529 -16,303 -16.5%
Total Market 2,540,617 2,692,786 -152,169 -5.7%

Related posts:
Top 10: UK car sales 2017
Top 10: UK car sales 2016 - winners and losers
Top 10: UK car sales 2016

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