UK November 2020: Vauxhall Corsa reclaims lead, teases Fiesta for YTD #1 in market hampered -27.4% by lockdown

The new generation has had a massive impact on Vauxhall Corsa sales at home.

As we have already seen for France, the second lockdown imposed in the UK across the month hampers the market -27.4% to just 113.781 units, the slowest November since 2008 (100.333). Again like France, the drop isn’t as harsh as during the first lockdown (April at -97.3% and May at -89% because this time dealerships and manufacturers were prepared to fulfil orders via delivery or click and collect. However private sales which have over performed in other large markets, are off -32.2% in November while fleet sales are down -22.1%. The year-to-date tally is now down -30.7% to 1.498.382 units. As a result we have amended our 2020 Forecast for the UK from 1.629 million units last month to 1.615 million.

UK November registrations 2004-2020. Source SMMT.co.uk 

In terms of sales by fuel, petrol is down -41.9% for the month to 55.855 and 49.1% share vs. 61.4% a year ago in November 2019, diesel is off -56.2% to 15.925 and 14% share vs. 23.2%, MHEV (Mild Hybrid) is up 109.9% to 16.823 and 14.8% share vs. just 5.1% a year ago, BEV shoots up 122.4% to 10.345 and 9.1% (its third largest ever share) vs. 3%, PHEV is up 76.9% to 7.717 vs. 4.361 and HEV edges up 0.3% to 7.116 vs. 7.098. Year-to-date, Petrol is down -39.2% to 56.4% share vs. 64.3% over the same period in 2019, diesel plummets -55.2% to 16.4% share vs. 25.4%, MHEV soars 136.3% to 10.7% share vs. 3.1% a year ago, HEV is up 10.2% to 6.8% share vs. 4.3%, BEV surges 162.2% to 5.8% share vs. 1.5% and PHEV is up 89.4% to 3.9% share vs. 1.4%.

Over in the brands ranking, Ford (-34.9%) and Volkswagen (-34.1%) both fall faster than the market but stay on top, while BMW (-16.4%) and Audi (-9.3%) resist very well in context. This way BMW overtakes Mercedes (-24.8%) in the YTD order to land at #3. Vauxhall (-24.6%) also slightly outpaces the market to return inside the Top 5 and now ranks #6 year–date ahead of Toyota (-18.8%). Nissan (-4.1%), Peugeot (-16.2%) and Skoda (-22.3%) also fare relatively well in the remainder of the Top 10. Below, Porsche (+16.7%) is the only gainer in the Top 20, shooting up 8 spots on October to land at #18 vs. #28 year-to-date. Smart (+141.5%) is the only additional gainer in market, with Volvo (-4.3%) limiting its fall to single-digits. We welcome Cupra at #37.

Model-wise, the new generation is really doing wonders for the Vauxhall Corsa (-13.5%) which reclaims the top spot for the 4th time in the past 6 months and the 6th time in the past 15 months whereas before September 2019, it had not ranked #1 for almost 5 years (since December 2014)… Add to this a particularly weak month for the Ford Fiesta (-36.3%) down to a paltry 8th place in November, and the Corsa finds itself just 2.597 units below the Fiesta in the YTD order. That’s probably still too much to hope for an annual win for the Corsa. Keep in mind Vauxhall has not managed to top the annual UK rankings since the start of our available UK data in 1965. The VW Golf (-8%), Mercedes A-Class (-13.5%) and Nissan Qashqai (-10.8%) also resist significantly better than the market while the Ford Focus (-23.9%) rounds out the Top 5. The Mini hatch (+1.6%) swims upstream with a year-on-year gain, the Ford Puma drops two spots on last month but remains in the Top 10 for the 4th consecutive month at #7, perhaps one of the reasons behind the Fiesta slump. The Volvo XC40 stuns with a second straight Top 10 finish and third ever at #9 and the Audi A3 closes the Top 10 like in October.

Previous month: UK October 2020: Earthquake as Mercedes A-Class takes overall lead in market down -1.6%

One year ago: UK November 2019: Vauxhall Corsa snaps 2nd win in past 3 months, Ford Kuga #2 in weakest November in 7 years

Full November 2020 Top 40 All-brands and Top 10 models below.