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.