UK May 2024: 22nd straight month of growth, Kia Sportage in the lead

The Kia Sportage is #1 in the UK For the third time ever.

New car sales in the UK sign a 22nd consecutive month of year-on-year growth in May at +1.7% to 147,678 units. This is the best May result since 2021 but remains -19.6% below the pre-pandemic level of May 2019 (183,724). After 5 months, the year-to-date volume is up 7.1% to 827,500. Once again fleet sales pull the market up at +14% to 86,870 and 58.8% share vs. 52.5% in May 2023 whereas private sales sink -12.9% to 57,453 and 38.9% share vs. 45.4% a year ago. Meanwhile government sales are up 9.5% to 3,355. Year-to-date, the trend is ever clearer with fleets up 24.2% to 494,535 and 59.8% vs. 51.5% over the same period in 2023 and private sales off -11.3% to 315,256 and 38.1% share vs. 46%. Government sales are down -6.3% to 17,709.

Looking at sales by propulsion, petrol recedes -2.1% to 81,058 and 54.9% share vs. 57% a year ago, and diesel skids -16.7% to 9,220 and 6.2% share vs. 7.6%. BEV sales gain 6.2% to 26,031 and 17.6% vs. 16.9% in May 2023. This is mainly due to strong fleet sales at +10.7% while private BEC sales are actually off -2%. HEVs are up 9.6% to 19,503 and 13.2% share vs. 12.3% and PHEV up 31.5% to 11,866 and 8% share vs. 6.2%. Year-to-date, petrol is up 5% to 462,860 and 55.9% share vs. 57.1% over the same period last year, diesel is down -11% to 55,524 and 6.7% vs. 8.1%, BEVs gain 9.7% to 133,062 and 16.1% share vs. 15.7%, HEVs are up 12.6% to 111,136 and 13.4% vs. 12.8% and PHEV soar 31.5% to 64,918 and 7.8% share vs. 6.4% last year.

Over in the brands ranking, Volkswagen (+15.5%) surges to 9.1% share vs. 8.2% so far this year, it is a distant leader this month once again. Audi (-9.6%) is handicapped by a particularly high year-ago result when it ranked #1 for the first time. It still achieves a very solid result at 7.2% share. BMW soars 29% to remain in third place and ranks #2 year-to-date. Kia (-0.7%) is stable and gains one spot on last month to #4 with Mercedes (+33.4%) up three ranks to #5. Ford (-31.4%) is in freefall at #6, that’s not as bad as the 7th place it held in March but still depressing nonetheless. Note Ford still ranked #2 overall over the Full Year 2023 but is #5 year-to-date. In contrast MG (+14.6%) scores another very satisfying result at #7 and 4.9% share, equally its ranking record also reached in January 2023, and its 2nd best share after the 5.6% it also hit in January 2023. Below Hyundai (-2.1%) and Toyota (-17.9%), Skoda (+16.6%) is very strong at #10 vs. #12 year-to-date. Further down, Seat (+81%), Renault (+59.2%), Cupra (+20%) and Honda (+18.3%) impress year-on-year. BYD (+2738.1%) continues to progress and breaks into the UK Top 30 for the first time at #29.

In the models lane, the Kia Sportage (+79.3%) lodges a third monthly in after January 2022 and January 2024, noting that only 2.8% share is enough to take the first spot. The Ford Puma (-8.9%) drops to #2 but easily stays in the YTD pole position while the Kia Sportage advances to #2. The Audi A3 (stable) repeats at #3 which is its ranking record. The VW Golf (+20.5%) confirms its return to shape and ascends to #5 year-to-date vs. #12 over the Full Year 2023. It’s another difficult month for the Vauxhall Corsa (-11.8%) which however reappears both in the monthly Top 10 at #5 and the YTD Top 10 at #10. The VW Polo (+57.2%) signs another excellent month but this is still not enough to enter the YTD Top 10. The MG ZS (+47.3%) also shines in the remainder of the Top 10.

Previous month: UK April 2024: VW Polo surges to #2, Audi A3 breaks ranking record

One year ago: UK May 2023: Audi signs first ever monthly win, Ford Puma #1 YTD

Full May 2024 Top 47 All brands and Top 10 models below.