Sixth-place Polo retains its UK best-seller status despite overall market decline
Now that the latest set of UK sales figures from the are in from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders’ (SMMT), the headline as far as we’re concerned is that the Polo is still a favourite among the UK car-buying public. In March 2011, 7634 Polos found new homes, making it a bigger seller in the UK than the Mini, a fact not reported that often. Overall, it sits one place higher at sixth in the year-to-date tallies. The top five sellers are the same in both the March and 2011-so-far lists, with the perennial Fiesta, Focus, Corsa and Astra – from Ford and Vaxuhall repectively – having little to fear from rivals. The Fiesta was once again the top seller in March, posting figures more than double of the Polo. It also took the crown for Q1, too, even with supermini volumes falling during March, although their market share edged up to 38.4%.
Demand for the new ‘11’ plate was just ahead of the SMMT’s forecast by 1.4%. Volumes in March were down 7.9% on last year, but with the 13.0% of 2010 scrappage-related volumes removed, the market was up 5.9%. ‘The UK saw 366,101 new cars registered in March, demonstrating sustained demand in what is traditionally the biggest month of the year,’ said Paul Everitt, SMMT Chief Executive. March 2011’s results also paint a more positive picture of the UK market as a whole. Registrations in Q1 were down 53,212 units or 8.7%, but at 558,336 units, were over 11,000 units ahead of industry expectations. The market is expected to decline further in Q2, before recovering in the second half of the year. Q1 also recorded the lowest ever average new car CO2 emissions, down 3.4% to 140.3g/km. The UK’s top 10 best-selling cars for March 2011 and the year-to-date (sales figure and position in brackets) are as follows:
1 Ford Fiesta: 19,676 (27,924, 1st)
2 Ford Focus: 14,370 (24,435, 2nd)
3 Vauxhall Corsa: 13,556 (20,536, 3rd)
4 Vauxhall Astra: 10,704 (17,250, 4th)
5 Volkswagen Golf: 10,282 (17,101, 5th)
6 Vauxhall Insignia: 7826 (11,904, 7th)
7 Volkswagen Polo: 7634 (12,214, 6th)
8 Peugeot 207: 7189 (10,335, 8th)
9 Mini: 7040
10 BMW 3 Series: 6103 (10,141, 10th)
(The 2011 best-seller absent from March’s sales figures is the Nissan Qashqai selling 9253 units in 10th place.)
