Top 10: UK car sales Q3 2021

Supply issues caused by the ongoing semiconductor shortage were largely responsible for dismal third-quarter new car registrations in the UK. In fact, 2021’s September performance – just 215,312 units – was the worst since the two-plate-change system was introduced in 1999.

Nevertheless, the year-to-date total of 1,316,614 was still ahead of 2020’s equivalent number, and demand for electrification rose significantly. According to the cumulative stats, a quarter of vehicles featured a pure-electric, plug-in hybrid or self-charging hybrid powertrain.

The aforementioned production problems certainly affected the best-sellers lists. Indeed, the Tesla Model 3 became the most popular car during September, while incredibly Ford wasn’t represented in the month’s top ten league at all.

However, the YTD situation was more as expected. The Vauxhall Corsa (32,616 units and a 2.5% market share) kept its first place, but the Volkswagen Golf (26,606 units / 2.0% share) beat the Ford Fiesta (26,360 units / 2.0% share) to the runner-up spot.

Volkswagen (121,286 units / 9.2% share) remained the country’s leading manufacturer, ahead of Ford (99,256 units / 7.5% share).

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