UK July 2023: Ford Puma affirms its domination, 5 SUVs in Top 5

The Ford Puma confirms it is the favourite vehicle of UK customers.

The UK new car market soar 28.3% year-on-year in July to 143,921 units, recording the best July volume since 2020. The year-to-date tally is now up 19.6% to 1,093,641 sales, however this is still -23.3% below the first seven months of pre-pandemic 2019 (1,426,443). A worrying sign, private sales only edge up 0.3% in July to 60,045 and 41.7% share vs. 53.4% in July 2022, and in fact it’s fleet sales that pull the market up at a whopping +61.9% to 80,961, sending its market share from 44.6% a year ago to 56.3%. Business sales improve 28.7% to 2,915. Year-to-date, private sales are weak also at +1.5% to 495,370 and 45.3% share vs. 53.4% over the first seven months of 2022, whereas fleet sales surge 41.3% to 571,685 and 52.3% share vs. 44.2%. Business sales are up 21.9% to 26,586.

In terms of fuel type or propulsion, diesel falls -8.4% for the month to 5,687 and 4% share vs. 5.5% a year ago, petrol is up 13.4% to 58,150 and 40.4% share vs. 45.7%, MHEV are up 31.1% to 29,051 and 20.2% share vs. 19.7%, HEV are up 18.9% to 16,321 and 11.3% share vs. 12.2%, PHEV up 79.1% to 11,702 and 8.1% share vs. 5.8% but the best performance is delivered by BEV up 87.9% to 23,010 and 16% share vs. 10.9% a year ago in July 2022. So far this year, diesel sinks -17.4% to 43,143 and 3.9% share vs. 5.7% last year, petrol is up 13.2% to 455,727 and 41.7% share vs. 44%, MHEV are up 23.7% to 208,945 and 19.1% share vs. 18.5%, HEV are up 29.1% to 135,991 and 12.4% vs. 11.5%, PHEV up 27.8% to 73,857 and 6.8% share vs. 6.3% and BEV up 38% to 175,978 and 16.1% share vs. 13.9%.

Source: SMMT

In the brands ranking, Volkswagen (+28.3%) exactly matches the market growth to 9.1% share, easily topping the charts. Ford (+55.3%) rallies back up in 2nd place, just above Audi (+24.3%). Kia (+37.4%) climbs two spots on June to #4 ahead of BMW (+10.4%) and Toyota (-3.1%). Vauxhall (+89.3%) for once is the biggest improver in the Top 10 but drops two ranks on last month to #7. Skoda (+55.6%) and Nissan (+30.6%) also beat the market in the remainder of the Top 10. Below, MG (+97.3%) continues to gear up at #11, with Volvo (+67.5%), Tesla (+104600%!), Mazda (+80.7%), Polestar (+573.6%) and Lexus (+158.9%) also impressive.

Model-wise, the Ford Puma (+151.6%) more than doubles its sales year-on-year to post a clear win for the month at 2.9% share. The difference of share between the #1 and #2 is larger than between the #2 ad the #10: the #2 model, the Kia Sportage (+46.6%) is at 2.1% share while the #10, the Tesla Model Y is at 1.6%. The Nissan Qashqai (+20.6%), #1 a year ago, can’t keep up with the market growth at #3, distancing the Vauxhall Mokka at #4 and the Hyundai Tucson (+15%) at #5, making the Top 5 entirely composed of SUVs. The Vauxhall Corsa (+19.9%) falls to #6 while the Ford Kuga (+90.1%), Audi A3 and Toyota Aygo X (+21.4%) return to the Top 10. 

Previous month: UK June 2023: Ford Puma and Tesla Model Y top market up 25.8%

One year ago: UK July 2022: Dacia smashes share record, Qashqai #1, Tucson, T-Roc, Audi A1 and Aygo X hit ranking records

Full July 2023 Top 45 brands and Top 10 models below.