Top Ten Best-Selling Cars in Britain in 2008

List of the Most Sold Motorcars by Model in the United Kingdom (UK)

Jan 7, 2009

Ford Focus – Britain’s Favorite Car in 2008, © Michael McWilliams / Wikimedia Commons

In 2008, the Ford Focus topped the list of best-selling car models in the UK while the Vauxhall Corsa was the second most registered new passenger vehicle in Britain.

The list of top ten best-selling cars in 2008 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (UK) was led by the Ford Focus. The Ford Focus narrowly outsold the Vauxhall Corsa in 2008 to remain Britain’s favorite passenger car for the eighth consecutive year. The Volkswagen Golf remained the most popular imported car in Britain.

In 2008, a total of 2,131,795 new motorcars were registered in the UK – a decline of 11.3% compared to new passenger vehicle registrations in 2007.

The Top Ten Best-Selling Cars in Great Britain in 2008

Statistics released by the SMMT of the top ten most sold cars in the UK in 2008 are as follows:

Position … Car Make and Model … Number of Cars Registered in 2008

Ford Focus … 101,593
Vauxhall Corsa … 99,574
Ford Fiesta … 94,989
Vauxhall Astra … 90,641
Volkswagen Golf … 65,029
Peugeot 207 … 53,462
BMW 3 Series … 49,384
Ford Mondeo … 44,150
Vauxhall Zafira … 43,169
Vauxhall Vectra … 42,555

Comparison with Best-Selling Cars in the UK in 2007

The list of the top ten most sold cars in Britain for 2008 showed very few changes compared to the top ten new car registrations in 2007. In 2008, the Ford Mondeo and Vauxhall Zafira returned to the best-seller list – both were amongst the top ten in 2006 – at the expense of the French Renault Mégane (eight most sold car in 2007) and Renault Clio (ninth most sold car in 2007).

Among the car models carried over from the 2007 best-sellers list, the only change in relative position was for the Vauxhall Corsa and Vauxhall Astra that swapped positions. The Vauxhall Corsa was also the only car to register an increase the actual number of units sold. (In 2007, only 94,120 new Vauxhall Corsas were registered in the UK.)

2008 Passenger Car Market in Great Britain

2008 was, as expected, a dismal year for new car registrations in the UK with the lowest volume of cars sold since 1996. In 2008, 447,255 fewer cars were sold in the UK than in 2003, the peak year for new car registrations in Britain. The SMMT forecasts that the British car market will shrink to only 1.78 million new car registrations in 2009.

During 2008, the new car market declined for eight successive months with the final quarter of 2008 sawing a drop of 27.2% in overall sales. In this negative climate, a year-on-year drop of 21.2% in December is considered a positive sign – a decline of 35% was predicted for the final month of 2008.

The SMMT also noted that the volume of new diesel cars sold in Britain fell for the first time since 1999. However, at 928,605 new diesel cars registered in the UK in 2008, diesel’s marketshare of 43.6% is at an all-time high.

The best-selling car manufacturers in Britain in 2008 remained Ford ahead of Vauxhall, Volkswagen, and Peugeot.

Resources:

Statistics provided by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT)

The copyright of the article Top Ten Best-Selling Cars in Britain in 2008 in International Trade is owned by Henk Bekker. Permission to republish Top Ten Best-Selling Cars in Britain in 2008 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.