UK July 2019: Citroen (+29.3%), Toyota (+22.6%) stun in 5th straight market decline (-4.1%)

Citroen sales soar 29.3% year-on-year in the UK in July.

UK new car sales endure a 5th straight year-on-year decline in July at -4.1% to 157.198 units, the weakest July result since 2012. The year-to-date tally is now down -3.5% to 1.426.443. Private sales resist best at -2% to 66.351 and 42.2% share vs. 41.3% in July 2018, while fleet sales drop -4.7% to 87.311 and 55.5% share vs. 55.9% and business sales freefall -22.5% to 3.536 and 2.2%. So far in 2019, this time its fleet deliveries (-1.4%) that perform best at 758.711 units and 53.2% share vs. 52.1% over the same period in 2018 but private sales (-3.1%) also perform better tham the market at 634.439 units and 44.5% share vs. 44.3%. In fact it’s business sales (-37.9%) that handicap the market at 33.293 deliveries and 2.3% share vs. 3.6%.

UK July registrations 2003-2019. Source: SMMT

Diesel registrations are down for the 28th month in a row at -22.1% to 40.651 units and 25.9% share vs. 31.8% in July 2018, whereas petrol sales gain 2.6% to 103.441 and 65.8% vs. 61.5%. Hybrids soar 34.2% to 7.758 and EVs shoot up 158.1% to 2.271. Year-to-date, diesel is down -19.7% to 385.528 and 27% share vs. 32.5% in 2018, petrol is up 3.4% to 943.877 and 66.2% vs. 61.8%, hybrids are up 19.2% to 56.975 and 4% vs. 3.2% and EVs up 70.6% to 14.246 and 1% vs. 0.6%.

The Ford Focus is up 80.3% in July.

Ford (+6.4%) and Mercedes (+5.8%) defy the market decline by posting sturdy upticks resulting in #1 and #3 rankings respectively, sandwiching Volkswagen (-9.4%) paying the price for artificially boosted sales in July 2018. This performance earns Mercedes the third spot YTD, knocking Vauxhall (-11.7%) down to #4. In the Top 15, only Citroen (+29.3%) and Toyota (+22.6%) manage double-digit gains whereas Audi (-23.3%) is hit full frontal. Mazda (+9.9%), Land Rover (+8.1%) and Peugeot (+1.9%) are the only additional gainers in the Top 20, and among smaller brands Alpine (+163.6%), Jeep (+50.8%), Lexus (+42.6%), Infiniti (+35.7%), MG (+27.9%), DS (+24.1%) and Jaguar (+12.6%) also impress.

Model-wise, the Ford Fiesta (-9.3%) aligns a 19th consecutive monthly win, distancing a VW Golf (-23.2%) in great difficulty but up to #2 for the first time since last November. For its part the locally-produced Nissan Qashqai (+16.6%) is back on the UK podium for the first in 6 months and the Ford Focus (+80.3%) easily scores the largest gain of all Top 10 models. After a one-month hiatus in June, the Mercedes A-Class (+30.4%) returns to the UK Top 5 for the 10th time in the past 11 months. The Ford Kuga (+5.2%), VW Tiguan (-2.3%) and Kia Sportage (-6.1%) are all back inside the Top 10.

Previous post: UK First Half 2019: Mercedes A-Class (+39.5%) and Volvo (+27%) superstars in Brexit-anxious market (-3.4%)

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

One year ago: UK July 2018: VW #1 for the 2nd month in a row – and in history

Full July 2019 Top 40 brands and Top 10 models below.