PoloDriver

The Polo’s popularity is still strong in the UK, according to the latest sales figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) for June 2012. Slipping a couple of places to end up as the ninth best-selling car in the UK for last month with 3378 units sold, the fifth-generation of Volkswagen’s evergreen supermini makes the 2012 half-year best-sellers list, too, selling 22,349 units from January to June. The Ford Fiesta was both the best-selling car last month and the year so far (9063 and 59,570 units respectively), while the Vauxhall Corsa was runner-up with 8800 and 41,147 examples finding homes. The new car market rose 3.5 per cent to 189,514 units in June 2012.

‘Driven by demand from private buyers, June new car registrations grew 3.5 per cent to push 2012 half-year volumes through the one million mark,’ said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. ‘Despite domestic and international economic concerns, UK motorists are responding positively to new products and the latest fuel-efficient technology. The industry has performed better than expected in the first half of the year and we will now need to work hard to sustain growth.’ The top 10 UK best-selling cars in June 2012 and for the year overall (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 9063 (59,570, 1st)
2 Vauxhall Corsa: 8800 (47,147, 2nd)

3 Ford Focus: 6937 (43,853, 3rd)

4 Volkswagen Golf: 6311 (34,572, 4th)

5 BMW 3 Series: 5830 (23,305, 7th)

6 Vauxhall Astra: 5472 (30,483, 5th)

7 Mini: 4807
8 Nissan Qashqai: 4775 (23,435, 6th)

9 Volkswagen Polo: 3378 (22,349, 8th)

10 Fiat 500: 3324

(The 2012 year-to-date top 10 best-selling car absent from June’s sales figures is the Mercedes C-Class selling 17,617 units in tenth place.)