UK May 2026: Vauxhall Frontera breaks into Top 10

The Vauxhall Frontera ends May in 9th place.

New car sales in the UK gain 7.1% year-on-year in May to 160,662 units, the best May result since pre-pandemic 2019 but still -12.6% below the level of 7 years ago. The year-to-date volume after 5 months is up 8.7% to 924,763. Encouragingly, private sales are up 17.2% to 65,781 and 40.9% share vs. 37.4% a year ago while fleet sales are up just 1.8% to 91,765 and 57.1% share vs. 60% in May 2025. Business sales drop -18.8% to 3,116 and 1.9% share vs. 2.6%. In terms of power source, BEVs surge 34.2% to 43,931 and 27.3% share vs. 21.8% a year ago, PHEVs are up 23.9% to 22,167 and 13.8% share vs. 11.9%, HEVs edge up 1.8% to 20,719 and 12.9% share vs. 13.6%, petrol is down -7.1% to 66,223 and 41.2% share vs. 47.5% and diesel skids -2.2% to 7,622 and 4.7% share vs. 5.2%.

Looking at the brands ranking, Volkswagen (+4%) easily stays on top at 8.8% share, significantly above the 8% it holds year-to-date. Audi (+12.4%) leapfrogs past Kia (+4.4%), BMW (-8.8%) and Ford (-18.6%) to land in 2nd place, a ranking it last held in November. Vauxhall (+9.4%) delivers a rare strong month and climbs back up five spots on April to #5. MG (+12.6%) is also strong at #6 and 4.6% share. Hyundai (-16.3%) and Skoda (-10.9%) are hit hard below. Further down, Jaecoo (+210.1%) is up five ranks on last month to #13, a new ranking record for the brand eclipsing the #17 of last March. BYD (+70.5%) is also on fire at #14 while Mini (+78.7%) does even better at #15. Omoda (+84.6%), Citroen (+60.1%) and Tesla (+45.5%) make themselves noticed.

Model-wise, the Ford Puma (+8.8%) and Kia Sportage (+5.6%) are in the lead again while the Vauxhall Corsa (+14.2%) is up four ranks on last month to #3, the nameplate’s first podium finish since April 2025. Surprise leader in March, the Jaecoo 7 is back up six spots to #4 and remains at #3 year-to-date. The Nissan Qashqai (-7.4%) is in difficulty and rounds out the Top 5. The VW Golf (+42.5%), Mini Cooper (+25.3%) and VW Tiguan (+21.6%) are all in outstanding shape below. Finally, the Vauxhall Frontera breaks into the UK Top 10 for the very first time at #9 with 1.5% share.

Previous month: UK April 2026: Market up 24% on low year-ago volumes, Omoda 5 breaks into Top 10

One year ago: UK May 2025: Stable market (+1.6%), Hyundai Kona hits record ranking

Full May 2026 Top 55 All brands and Top 10 models below.