UK Full Year 2013: Ford Fiesta marks 10 years in pole position, BMW places two models in Top 10 for the first time

The BMW 1 Series breaks into the annual UK Top 10 for the first time in 2013.

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This UK Full Year 2013 Report is brought to you by MCC Auto Centres.

2013 was an incredible year for new car sales in the UK: up an astounding 11% on 2013 to reach 2,264,737 registrations, the best annual figure since 2007. It’s simple: on average, an additional 600 extra cars registered per day in 2013 than one year ago! The Ford Fiesta remains the most popular vehicle in the country for the 5th year in a row and the 10th time overall after 1990, 1991, 1996 to 1998 and 2009 to 2012. The Fiesta is now the second most successful nameplate ever in the UK, below just the Ford Escort (12 years) and equal with the Cortina and Focus (both 10 years also). The Fiesta performs slightly better than the market at +12% to 121,929 sales and 5.4% and is the only model to command more than 4% share vs. 3 in 2012. It topped the UK monthly ranking every single month of the year bar February (Focus) vs. just 8 times in 2012.

The Ford Fiesta celebrates 10 years atop the UK sales charts in 2013.

The Ford Focus is up 5% to reclaim the 2nd position it held in 2011, passing the Vauxhall Corsa (-6%), with the rest of the Top 8 best-sellers identical to last year. The Nissan Qashqai beats its 2012 annual volume record by gaining 10% to 50,211 sales and remains in 6th place which is the highest annual ranking ever reached by a Japanese model in the UK. The strongest Japanese annual volume however still belongs to the Nissan Micra which sold 54,175 units back in 1989. At #9 we welcome the BMW 1 Series for the first time in the year-end UK Top 10, up a brilliant 21% on 2012 to 41,883 sales, beating its monthly volume record twice this year at 7,001 units in March and 10,084 in September – the strongest volume by a BMW in over 5 years. With the 3 Series at #7, BMW places two models inside the annual UK Top 10 for the first time in history!

2013 is the year the Nissan Juke first broke into the UK monthly Top 10.

The other newcomer in the 2013 Top 10 is the Peugeot 208 up 126% to #10 with 38,616 sales and 1.7% for its first full year, however it only delivered one Top 10 ranking during the second half of 2013 and will struggle to maintain this ranking in 2014. Two other models passed significant milestones this year: the Nissan Juke broke into the monthly Top 10 for the first time in January at #9 and repeated this feat no less than 3 times during the year, lifting its ranking record to #7 in October, while the Fiat 500 reached a record 8th place in April and November.

The Audi A1 is among the 20 most popular cars in the UK for the first time in 2013.

Thanks to the SMMT I can share with you the 2013 Top 20 best-selling models, for the first time that early in the year – you won’t see this info on any other website! Not surprisingly, the Fiat 500 stops 700 units short of breaking into the annual Top 10 for the first time at #11 and the Nissan Juke is up 4 spots and 30% to #12. The Audi A3 gains two ranks to #13, whereas the Mercedes C-Class is down 6 to #15 but with the E-Class at #17 (+22%), Mercedes manages to place two models in the Top 17 like in 2012. The Audi A1 makes its very first appearance in the annual UK Top 20, up 3 spots and 19% to #20. This way all German premium brands have two models each in the Top 20.

Successful UK launch for Dacia in 2013.

In the brands ranking, Ford and Vauxhall evolve like the market to deliver stable market shares at 13.7% and 11.5% respectively while Volkswagen goes from 9% to 8.6% in third place. Thanks to an excellent year for the new A3, Audi passes BMW to become UK’s most popular premium brand in 4th place overall with 142,040 sales and 6.3% (+15%) vs. 135,583 and 6% (+6%) for BMW. Mercedes gains one spot and 19% on 2012 to land at #7, Citroen is up 6% to #10, Skoda up 23% to #13, Fiat up 21% to #14 and Renault stays #18 but broke back into the monthly Top 10 in December for the first time in years. But the big event this year in the UK is the launch in January of French-Romanian low-cost brand Dacia with a big tick of approval: it finishes the year at #23 with 17,046 sales in-between Mazda and Jaguar and was above 1% share from April onwards, a very promising performance for a two-model range (Duster/Sandero).

MCC Auto Centres are a group of established car garages based in North of England, with garages for Leeds, Hull, Bradford, Keighley and Ilkley areas. The garages specialise in cheap tyres, and are proud to be newly appointed dealers for Hankook tyres. The range of auto services include MOT, car servicing, car repairs and exhausts, and all other garage services. If you are based in the North of England and have any enquiries regarding your car, contact MCC Auto Centres today. 

Previous post: UK December 2013: Vauxhall Insignia remains #6 in market up 24%

Previous year: UK Full Year 2012: Nissan Qashqai hits highest ever ranking for a Japanese model

Two years ago: UK Full Year 2011: Ford Fiesta #1, VW Golf at highest ranking ever

Full Year 2013 Top 20 models and Top 45 brands Ranking Tables below.