Top 10: UK car sales 2019

New car registrations in the UK declined for a third year running during 2019, but the overall reduction was fairly modest. However, as statistics from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders show, buying habits continued to change.

Last year, just over a quarter of purchasers opted for diesel, while demand for alternative powertrains grew. It’s necessary to point out that hybrid and pure-electric cars combined only accounted for 7.4% of sales though, which isn’t really a significant movement on 2018’s equivalent figure of 6.0%.

Total UK Car Registrations 2019 - By Powertrain Type
Powertrain	2019	2018	Change	Change %
Diesel	615,705	750,165	-134,460	-17.9%
Petrol	1,525,001	1,475,712	+49,289	+3.3%
BEV	37,850	15,510	+22,340	+144.0%
PHEV	34,734	42,232	-7,498	-17.8%
HEV	97,850	83,528	+14,322	+17.1%
Total	2,311,140	2,367,147	-56,007	-2.4%
Of which: Alternative	170,434	141,270	+29,164	+20.6%
‘Alternative’ comprises battery electric vehicles (BEV), plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). Mild hybrids are included within the ‘Petrol’ and ‘Diesel’ categories.

Total UK Car Registrations 2019 - By Category
Category	2019	2018	Change	Change %
Private	1,018,258	1,052,202	-33,944	-3.2%
Fleet	1,232,447	1,222,850	+9,597	+0.8%
Business	60,435	92,095	-31,660	-34.4%
Total	2,311,140	2,367,147	-56,007	-2.4%
Fleet + Business	1,292,882	1,314,945	-22,063	-1.7%

Turning to the top ten manufacturers, 2019’s league table looks very familiar.

Mercedes-Benz and BMW got promoted to third and fourth places respectively, primarily because Vauxhall suffered a major drop in volumes. Toyota and Kia similarly benefited from a relatively poor performance by Nissan.

Top 10: Total UK Car Registrations 2019 - By Manufacturer
Position 2019	Manufacturer	Registrations	Market Share	Position 2018
1	Ford	236,137	10.2%	1
2	Volkswagen	200,771	8.7%	2
3	Mercedes-Benz	171,823	7.4%	4
4	BMW	169,753	7.3%	5
5	Vauxhall	159,830	6.9%	3
6	Audi	138,924	6.0%	6
7	Toyota	105,192	4.6%	8
8	Kia	97,323	4.2%	9
9	Nissan	92,372	4.0%	7
10	Hyundai	83,284	3.6%	10

Despite retaining its ‘most popular model’ accolade, Fiesta registrations fell by 18,059 compared to 2018. Consequently, the supermini’s market share slipped from 4.1% to 3.4%.

It wasn’t all bad news for Ford. The Focus jumped from fifth to third (thanks to 6,127 extra units), plus the Kuga rose from ninth to seventh.

An even more impressive result was achieved by the Mercedes-Benz A-Class. 53,724 examples were registered in 2019, a year-on-year increase of 10,197 that was enough to secure fifth spot.

Top 10: Total UK Car Registrations 2019 - By Model
Position	Model	Registrations	Market Share
1	Ford Fiesta	77,833	3.4%
2	Volkswagen Golf	58,994	2.6%
3	Ford Focus	56,619	2.4%
4	Vauxhall Corsa	54,239	2.3%
5	Mercedes-Benz A-Class	53,724	2.3%
6	Nissan Qashqai	52,532	2.3%
7	Ford Kuga	41,671	1.8%
8	Mini Hatch	41,188	1.8%
9	Volkswagen Polo	37,453	1.6%
10	Kia Sportage	34,502	1.5%

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