UK June 2019: Toyota (+17.5%) places Yaris at record #7, Dacia and MG shine in market down -4.9%

The Toyota Yaris is up to a record 7th place in the UK in June.

It’s a 4th consecutive month of decline for UK new car sales at -4.9% year-on-year in June to 223.421 units, the lowest score for the month since 2014. Private sales match the market at -4.8% to 90.111 units and 40.3% share while fleet deliveries resist better at -2.5% to 126.836 and 56.8% vs. 55.3% while business sales deep dive -37.1% to 6.474 and 2.9% vs. 4.4%. Diesel sales fall for the 27th straight month at -20.5% to 58.982 and 26.4% vs. 31.6% just as petrol deliveries edge up 3% to 149.360 and 66.9% vs. 61.7%. Notable fact, alternatively fuelled vehicle sales are down for the first time in 26 months at -4.4% to 15.079 including 8.585 hybrids (-4.7%), 2.461 EVs (+61.7%) and 2.268 PHEVs (-50.4%), the rest being mild hybrids.

Brand-wise, Ford (-1.3%) remains in the lead but tilts under the 10% market share milestone for the third time in the past 8 months at 9.9%. It distances Volkswagen (-11.8%), BMW (-13.1%) and Vauxhall (-14.7%) all falling dramatically faster than the market. Gains are a lot more frequent further down, including Toyota (+17.5%) flamboyant this month, Nissan (+7%), Mini (+5.9%) and Mercedes (+0.1%) albeit very timid. Among smaller brands, Lotus (+160%), Dacia (+46.8%), MG (+23.8%) and Volvo (+15.7%) impress.

UK June sales 2003-2019. Source SMMT

The Ford Fiesta (-15.7%) is once again the best-selling vehicle in the UK despite a steep fall, with the Vauxhall Corsa (-7.6%) climbing back up to #2 and the Mini soaring from outside the May Top 10 directly to #3, its first podium finish of the year. The Ford Focus (+12.6%) continues to take advantage of the new generation and holds onto the #2 YTD spot even though it retrogrades from #2 last month to #5 in June. The Toyota Yaris leaps to a new all-time ranking record at #7, beating its previous best of #9 established last January and finishing among the country’s 10 favourites for only the 4th time (add March 2014 and 2019). Finally the new generation helps the BMW 1 Series (+32%) score its 2nd Top 10 finish this year and, most symbolically, outsell its archenemy the Mercedes A-Class (+78.5%) falling out of the UK Top 5 for the first time since August 2018. 

Previous month: UK May 2019: Mercedes, Kia, Toyota resist in 8th market drop in past 9 months (-4.6%), lowest volumes in 6 years

One year ago: UK June 2018: Historical win for VW, BMW up to record #2 spot: German brands atop the UK market for the first time ever

Full June 2019 Top 42 brands and Top 10 models below.