The top 10 best‑selling cars in Britain 2024

In what is fast becoming a well-trodden path, it was fleet and business growth that drove the market, up 14 and 9.5 per cent respectively, while sales to private buyers dropped 12.9 per cent. Petrol and diesel sales also fell, while the popularity of electric cars grew and plug-in hybrids recorded the highest growth of all powertrains – up 31.5 per cent and accounting for an 8 per cent share of the market. Sales of non-plug-in hybrids rose by 9.6 per cent, holding their place as the most popular powertrain on the market behind petrol and battery electric vehicles (BEV). 

BEV sales also outperformed the market, growing by 6.2 per cent and claiming a 17.6 per cent market share, up from 16.9 per cent in May last year, driven by fleet sales growing by 10.7 per cent. Private registrations actually fell 2 per cent – still down on the government’s 22 per cent target for zero-emission vehicles. The SMMT is calling for support in the form of subsidies and other incentives.   

Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, said, “As Britain prepares for next month’s general election, the new car market continues to hold steady as large fleets sustain growth, offsetting weakened private retail demand. Consumers enjoy a plethora of new electric models and some very attractive offers, but manufacturers can’t sustain this scale of support on their own indefinitely. Their success so far should be a signpost for the next government that a faster and fairer transition requires carrots, not just sticks.”

10. Nissan Juke

The Nissan Juke is everything the modern car buyer wants: strikingly styled, roomy, cheap to run, and fully connected. The Juke's raised driving position gives you the feeling of safety craved by SUV owners, but it is also relatively sporty to drive with a ride and handling balance that puts you on the more sorted end of the small crossover spectrum. It's a shame the petrol and petrol-electric engine range gives you little to get excited about. The cabin quality could be better, but the interior is well-designed and roomy, and connecting your phone to the car's infotainment is simple. It’s a car that does most things well.

9. Hyundai Tucson

The Tucson is one of three Korean cars in the UK top ten in 2022. It’s a marker of how rapid the nation’s automotive industry has grown in a decade, given there were no entrants from South Korea in the UK top ten a decade ago. The latest Tucson’s most appealing (or divisive, depending on how it sits with you) feature is its striking and unconventional appearance, headlined by a front end adorned with what the brand calls its “Parametric Hidden Lights.” As a show of Hyundai’s increasingly premium-market ambitions, the Tucson is the first car from the brand to be offered with adaptive damping technology typical of the German establishment.

8. MG ZS

The MG ZS’s combination of a roomy cabin and decent equipment levels for a knockdown price has clearly struck a chord with UK buyers, who gobbled up enough of them to make it the eighth most popular car in the country. The MG gives you bigger-than-Nissan-Qashqai space for a lower-than-Nissan-Juke price tag that represents superb value if you’re hunting for a small SUV. An electric model helps broaden the appeal of the ZS, and it’s the pick of the bunch with a sharp turn of pace and a decent range for a budget EV. Petrol versions are less impressive – the four cylinder feels old and slow, and the newer three-cylinder is cobbled by an automatic gearbox that feels like a relic from another time. But you can live with all that when you see the price. 

7. Nissan Qashqai

It may be dropping down the list a bit, but now in its third generation, billions (well, many millions) of Qashqais have been sold globally. Designed in Britain, the new version continues the car's success story based on a formula that gives you SUV looks in a car that drives and is almost as efficient as a regular hatchback. More premium than its predecessor, the new Qashqai is available as the e-Power – an EV with a petrol engine running as a generator. It has the silent running and instant thrust of an EV without needing to charge.

6. Volkswagen Polo

The Volkswagen Polo makes you ask: “when small cars can be this good, why are they slowly dying out?” It’s a fair question. The Polo does everything very well and offers it in a small package that’s easy to live with every day. Inside, it has the space you’d have expected of a Volkswagen Golf not too long ago, it feels properly built and it comes with a slick pair of infotainment screens that connect to your phone using Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

While a Ford Fiesta used to be king for small car drivers looking for something fun, the Polo’s always been the more comfortable option, with a ride quality that will genuinely surprise you and impressive interior refinement. That being said, it still handles neatly and has a middling punch from its turbocharged engines. All of which allows us – and clearly you, because it’s the UK’s sixth most popular car – to forgive its beefy pricing. 

5. Vauxhall Corsa 

Ford may have killed the Fiesta, but Vauxhall's belief that there's life in the small car yet has been proven correct by the Corsa’s sixth-placed position on this list of the UK's most popular cars.

Stellantis money has breathed new life into the Corsa, transforming it from a budget option to a genuine class contender. It looks brilliant on the inside, and while the interior is dull – and a bit cramped in the back – it claws back points for its decent infotainment. Sure, the drive is less than enthralling, but the Corsa's petrol-sipping PureTech engines are pleasingly potent, and the Corsa Electric has a respectable range for a small EV.

4. Volkswagen Golf

One of the more evergreen entries, the Volkswagen Golf's enduring popularity may have taken a slight dent with the advent of SUVs and crossovers, but it's still one of the most versatile new cars on sale today. It's likely the most popular car in the top ten with car enthusiasts, too, given the availability of bonafide performance options like the front-wheel drive Golf GTI and four-wheel Golf R, which now kicks out well over 300PS (221kW). Volkswagen's recently revealed update – the last Golf we'll see – smartens up the exterior, adds nominal power upgrades and brings useful infotainment updates. More than 10,000 Golfs have been sold this year alone.

3. Audi A3

The Audi A3 was an early brand engineering pioneer. It's basically a Volkswagen Golf with a dusting of glitter, in the same way the Skoda Octavia is a Volkswagen Golf with no glitter. You get a hewn-from-granite interior, premium tech options like a Bang & Olufsen stereo, and exotic motors, namely the fabulous turbocharged inline-five in the RS3, all sealed under Audi's premium, four-hoop badge. It's a formula that has translated into more than 10,000 sales in 2024.

2. Ford Puma

When Ford revived the Puma name in 2019, it took the same approach as the '90s original by leveraging the platform of the popular Fiesta supermini and using these humble underpinnings to develop a more desirable and profitable car. The glaring difference is that today's Puma is not a small coupé but a small SUV. While we'll forever mourn the coupé, seeing its sales dwarfed by the more practical and still fun-to-drive SUV is not surprising. Transforming it into an SUV has secured more than 15,000 sales this year already.

1. Kia Sportage

The Kia Sportage has cemented a place as one of Britain's most popular SUVs, simultaneously affirming Kia as a mainstream brand in the UK. The first Sportage arrived in 1995 and continued on sale until 2003 when the Korean marque shifted just over 10,800. By contrast, Kia has already shifted 14,000 versions of the new model this year alone. The Sportage ticks all the family car boxes, with value for money, tech, and practicality all covered, along with a selection of electrified drivetrains.