UK September 2022: Nissan Qashqai and Tesla Model Y top market up a shy 4.6%

The Nissan Qashqai is the #1 vehicle in the UK in September. Picture autocar.co.uk

During the all-important licence plate change month of September, UK new car sales gain 4.6% year-on-year to 225,269 units. This is according to SMMT. Although commendable, this is however down a massive -31.3% on September 2020 (328,041) and the second weakest September volume since 1998. The year-to-date tally remains in negative at -8.2% to 1,208,368 sales. Private sales go against the market at -3.6% to 116,165 and 51.6% share vs. 56% a year ago whereas fleet sales lift by a very solid 12.5% to 101,760 and 45.2% share vs. 42% in September 2021. Business sales soar 70.5% to 7,344 and 3.3% share vs. 2%. The year-to-date image is reversed with private sales up 2.3% to 639,005 and 52.9% share vs. 47.5% over the first 9 months of 2021, fleet sales down -19.1% to 539,040 and 44.6% share vs. 50.6% and business sales up 18.5% to 30,323 and 2.5% share vs. 1.9%.

In terms of fuel/propulsion type, diesel contains its fall this month at -3.1% to 10,330 and 4.6% share vs. 5% a year ago, with petrol sales down similarly at -2.8% to 91,679 and 40.7% share vs. 43.8% in September 2021. MHEV is up 12.9% to 43,775 units and 19.4% share vs. 18%, BEV soars 16.5% to 38,116 and 16.9% share vs. 15.2% last year. This is the second highest monthly BEV volume below the 39,315 units sold last March. PHEV drops -11.5% to 12,281 and 5.5% share vs. 6.4% and HEV is up 16.5% to 29,088 and 12.9% vs. 11.6%. Year-to-date, diesel is down a searing -43% to 67,023 and 5.5% share vs. 8.9% over the same period in 2021, petrol dives -15.4% to 525,799 and 43.5% share vs. 47.2% in 2021, MHEV skids -8.7% to 223,544 and 18.5% share vs. 18.6%, BEV surges 40.3% to 175,614 and 14.5% share vs. 9.5%, PHEV falls -15% to 73,961 and 6.1% share vs. 6.6% and HEV gains 18.4% to 142.427 and 11.8% vs. 9.1%. Note cumulative sales by electrified vehicles (BEV and PHEV) have now passed the million units at 1,002,157 since January 2010.

Source: SMMT

Ford (+92.2%) surges on particularly weak year-ago volumes and easily reclaims the top spot it holds year-to-date with 9.2% of the market vs. 7.8% YTD. Volkswagen (+15.6%) drops to second place ahead of Toyota (-9.7%) which was #1 a year ago. Kia (-10.2%) is up four spots on August to #4 but struggles year-on-year as it ranked #2 overall in September 2021. Nissan (+48.9%) impresses with a large year-on-year uptick and is up 8 ranks on last month to end September in 5th place. Tesla (+45%) and Mercedes (+14.4%) are the only additional Top 10 carmakers to beat the market just as BMW (-14.6%), Hyundai (-0.8%) and Audi (+3.5%) underperform. Below, MG (+60.7%) and Mini (+27.8%) stand out while Cupra (+105%) sells almost double the volume as sister brand Seat (-70.6%) in complete freefall. Polestar (+207%) continues to gear up.

Over in the models ranking, the locally-made Nissan Qashqai (+126.1%) storms into the pole position with 4.1% share and is now a tiny 8 sales off the YTD top spot. Indeed the Vauxhall Corsa (-35%) is out of the monthly Top 10 for the first time since July 2021 and now sees its domination challenged. It’s the Qashqai fourth ever monthly win after September 2017, April 2022 and July 2022. The Tesla Model Y soars to 2nd place and as a result notches a spot in the YTD Top 10 at #8. #1 last month, the VW Polo (+59.4%) is down to #3 but still hasn’t made its appearance in the YTD Top 10. It distances the Ford Puma (+66.9%) and Kia Sportage (+24.4%) both impressive and rounding out the Top 5. Just below, the Ford Fiesta (+156.5%) manages its second Top 10 finish in the past 13 months (alongside last March) and outsells its archenemy the Vauxhall Corsa for the first time since July 2021. The Ford Kuga, Hyundai Tucson and VW T-Roc are also solid this month.

Previous month: UK August 2022: Market edges up 1.2%, Hyundai breaks share record again, VW Polo #1, Citroen C3 hits first Top 10

One year ago: UK September 2021: Toyota and Kia on top, Ford down to #7, market freefalling -34.4% to weakest in 23 years

Full September 2022 Top 40 brands and Top 10 models below.