UK January 2025: Peugeot up to #4, places 3008 #5 and 2008 #6
The Peugeot 3008 breaks into the UK Top 5 for the first time in January.
New car sales in the UK recede -2.5% year-on-year in January to 139,345 units. Private sales are stable at -0.5% to 49,976 and a slightly improved market share at 35.9% vs. 35.2% a year ago. Fleets drop -3.7% to 86,998 and 62.4% share vs. 63.2% while business sales are up 2.4% to a modest 2,371 and 1.7% share. Petrol sales sink -15.3% to 70.075 and 50.3% share vs. 57.9% in January 2024, diesel is off -7.7% to 8,625 and 6.2% share vs. 6.5%, HEVs are up 2.9% to 18,413 and 13.2% share vs. 12.5% and PHEVs gain 5.5% to 12,598 and 9% share vs. 8.4%. Finally BEVs surge 41.6% to 29,634 and an excellent 21.3% share vs. 14.7% a year ago. As SMMT comments, this is still just below the 22% target set by the government for 2024 and well off the 28% requirement for 2025.
In the brands aisle, below perennial leader Volkswagen (+18.4%), in excellent shape at 9.7% share, the rest of the ranking is completely reshuffled. Kia (+5.9%) is back up 14 spots on December to #2 with 7.8% share, well above the 5.7% it commanded over the Full Year 2024. This is Kia’s highest market share since it hit a record 9.1% back in January 2022. BMW (-14.2%) takes the third place like in December but is weak year-on-year. There’s a mini French revolution this month with Peugeot (+34.2%) soaring 13 ranks on last month to land in 4th place with 5.8% share. This is the carmaker’s best performance in at least 12 years, as it reached #5 in February 2013. Peugeot may have reached higher ground when it was a local manufacturer, notably in the nineties. Nissan (-17.5%) and Vauxhall (-14.9%) underperform but the hardest hit is Ford (-31.6%) down to #7 and 4.8% share, its lowest result since June 2024 when it ranked #9 with 4.7% share. Audi (-27.2%) is also in trouble at #8 vs. #3 over the Full Year 2024. Below, Mazda (+40.9%), Cupra (+23.4%) and Mercedes (+15.8%) stand out just as BYD (+550.8%) continues to gear up at a record 1.2% share.
Source: SMMT
The Kia Sportage (-18%) and Nissan Qashqai (-14.6%) both tumble down year-on-year but still hold onto the Top 2 spots. This is the 6th time in the past 9 months that the Sportage is #1 and it could be headed towards its first ever annual pole position in 2025 after missing out last year when it ranked #2 below the Ford Puma, down -44.5% to #7 this month. The Vauxhall Corsa reappears inside the podium at #3, its best ranking since hitting #2 in November 2023. The VW Golf (+6.4%) defies the negative environment and ranks #4 but the event of the month is below: the Peugeot 3008 is at #5 and the 2008 at #6. This is the 3008’s second ever UK Top 10 finish after hitting #9 last November and a new ranking record for the 2008, eclipsing the #7 it reached in October 2023. MG places the HS at #9 and the ZS at #10.
Previous post (1): UK Full Year 2024: Now with exclusive Top 200 models ranking
Previous post (2): UK Full Year 2024: Ford Puma repeats at #1 despite Kia Sportage push
One year ago: UK January 2024: Kia Sportage #1, BMW 1 Series up to record #5
Full January Top 50 All brands and Top 10 models below.
UK January 2024 – brands:
| Pos | Brand | Jan-25 | % | /24 | Dec | 2024 | % | FY24 |
| 1 | Volkswagen | 13,565 | 9.7% | + 18.4% | 1 | 166,304 | 8.5% | 1 |
| 2 | Kia | 10,813 | 7.8% | + 5.9% | 16 | 112,252 | 5.7% | 4 |
| 3 | BMW | 9,265 | 6.6% | – 14.2% | 3 | 125,265 | 6.4% | 2 |
| 4 | Peugeot | 8,096 | 5.8% | + 34.2% | 17 | 68,905 | 3.5% | 13 |
| 5 | Nissan | 7,129 | 5.1% | – 17.5% | 9 | 100,446 | 5.1% | 8 |
| 6 | Vauxhall | 7,084 | 5.1% | – 14.9% | 12 | 78,895 | 4.0% | 11 |
| 7 | Ford | 6,636 | 4.8% | – 31.6% | 4 | 109,955 | 5.6% | 5 |
| 8 | Audi | 6,433 | 4.6% | – 27.2% | 6 | 122,431 | 6.3% | 3 |
| 9 | Mercedes | 6,361 | 4.6% | + 15.8% | 10 | 102,757 | 5.3% | 6 |
| 10 | Hyundai | 6,332 | 4.5% | + 2.3% | 15 | 91,808 | 4.7% | 9 |
| 11 | MG | 5,440 | 3.9% | – 18.9% | 8 | 81,536 | 4.2% | 10 |
| 12 | Skoda | 5,261 | 3.8% | + 6.7% | 7 | 78,601 | 4.0% | 12 |
| 13 | Land Rover | 5,089 | 3.7% | + 8.8% | 18 | 61,290 | 3.1% | 15 |
| 14 | Toyota | 4,660 | 3.3% | – 23.7% | 5 | 101,444 | 5.2% | 7 |
| 15 | Volvo | 4,266 | 3.1% | + 9.9% | 13 | 66,408 | 3.4% | 14 |
| 16 | Renault | 4,082 | 2.9% | + 6.9% | 14 | 57,967 | 3.0% | 16 |
| 17 | Mini | 2,985 | 2.1% | – 20.3% | 11 | 46,975 | 2.4% | 18 |
| 18 | Mazda | 2,768 | 2.0% | + 40.9% | 22 | 28,429 | 1.5% | 24 |
| 19 | Dacia | 2,309 | 1.7% | + 10.6% | 21 | 31,457 | 1.6% | 20 |
| 20 | Cupra | 2,243 | 1.6% | + 23.4% | 19 | 30,398 | 1.6% | 22 |
| 21 | Seat | 1,929 | 1.4% | – 29.4% | 23 | 36,782 | 1.9% | 19 |
| 22 | Suzuki | 1,837 | 1.3% | + 18.8% | 32 | 23,059 | 1.2% | 25 |
| 23 | Honda | 1,624 | 1.2% | – 32.6% | 27 | 30,636 | 1.6% | 21 |
| 24 | BYD | 1,614 | 1.2% | + 550.8% | 25 | 8,788 | 0.5% | 31 |
| 25 | Tesla | 1,458 | 1.0% | – 7.8% | 2 | 50,334 | 2.6% | 17 |
| 26 | Fiat | 1,428 | 1.0% | + 30.2% | 29 | 14,253 | 0.7% | 29 |
| 27 | Citroen | 1,256 | 0.9% | – 46.3% | 24 | 30,371 | 1.6% | 23 |
| 28 | Porsche | 1,191 | 0.9% | – 0.1% | 20 | 20,000 | 1.0% | 26 |
| 29 | Lexus | 1,062 | 0.8% | + 54.1% | 26 | 16,651 | 0.9% | 27 |
| 30 | Jeep | 960 | 0.7% | + 87.5% | 31 | 9,041 | 0.5% | 30 |
| 31 | Jaguar | 783 | 0.6% | – 41.2% | 33 | 16,617 | 0.9% | 28 |
| 32 | Polestar | 746 | 0.5% | + 216.1% | 28 | 8,693 | 0.4% | 32 |
| 33 | Jaecoo | 724 | 0.5% | new | 34 | 209 | 0.0% | 47 |
| 34 | Omoda | 593 | 0.4% | new | 30 | 3,629 | 0.2% | 33 |
| 35 | KGM | 115 | 0.1% | + 36.9% | 39 | 1,617 | 0.1% | 37 |
| 36 | Subaru | 113 | 0.1% | – 41.5% | 35 | 2,419 | 0.1% | 34 |
| 37 | DS | 101 | 0.1% | – 6.5% | 43 | 1,152 | 0.1% | 40 |
| 38 | Genesis | 91 | 0.1% | + 46.8% | 37 | 1,210 | 0.1% | 38 |
| 39 | Bentley | 89 | 0.1% | + 8.5% | 38 | 919 | 0.0% | 42 |
| 40 | Alfa Romeo | 69 | 0.0% | – 5.5% | 36 | 1,666 | 0.1% | 36 |
| 41 | Smart | 59 | 0.0% | – 59.9% | 40 | 1,981 | 0.1% | 35 |
| 42 | Ora | 52 | 0.0% | – 7.1% | 45 | 1,162 | 0.1% | 39 |
| 43 | Maserati | 26 | 0.0% | – 50.0% | 41 | 469 | 0.0% | 43 |
| 44 | Abarth | 19 | 0.0% | – 72.9% | 46 | 1,027 | 0.1% | 41 |
| 45 | Ineos | 11 | 0.0% | – 54.2% | 47 | 350 | 0.0% | 45 |
| 46 | Alpine | 10 | 0.0% | – 75.6% | 44 | 371 | 0.0% | 44 |
| 47 | Maxus | 10 | 0.0% | n/a | 42 | 31 | 0.0% | 48 |
| 48 | Chevrolet | 1 | 0.0% | n/a | – | 1 | 0.0% | 50 |
| 49 | Skywell | 1 | 0.0% | new | 48 | 6 | 0.0% | 49 |
| 50 | Fisker | 0 | 0.0% | – 100.0% | – | 259 | 0.0% | 46 |
| – | Other British | 429 | 0.3% | + 78.8% | – | 3,452 | 0.2% | – |
| – | Other Imports | 127 | 0.1% | – 24.0% | – | 2,100 | 0.1% | – |
UK January 2025 – models:
| Pos | Model | Jan-25 | % | /23 | Dec | FY24 |
| 1 | Kia Sportage | 3,476 | 2.5% | – 18.0% | n/a | 2 |
| 2 | Nissan Qashqai | 3,421 | 2.5% | – 14.6% | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Vauxhall Corsa | 3,379 | 2.4% | n/a | 7 | 12 |
| 4 | VW Golf | 2,614 | 1.9% | + 6.4% | n/a | 6 |
| 5 | Peugeot 3008 | 2,567 | 1.8% | n/a | n/a | 31 |
| 6 | Peugeot 2008 | 2,478 | 1.8% | n/a | n/a | 20 |
| 7 | Ford Puma | 2,332 | 1.7% | – 44.5% | 5 | 1 |
| 8 | Nissan Juke | 2,320 | 1.7% | – 4.2% | 10 | 4 |
| 9 | MG HS | 2,148 | 1.5% | – 37.1% | n/a | 8 |
| 10 | MG ZS | 2,107 | 1.5% | n/a | 6 | 17 |
Source: SMMT
