PoloDriver

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has released its new car registration figures for May 2017, and we’re pleased to report that the Volkswagen Polo has risen in the charts to become the UK’s fifth most popular new car. A total of 4,247 examples of the evergreen small VW found new homes last month, while 22,500 Polo registrations have been recorded in the year-to-date.

As in the past few months, Ford’s Polo sparring-partner the Fiesta is top dog once again: 7,617 small Fords were registered in May, adding to the car’s cumulative figure of 50,779 for 2017 so far. This means it still tops the charts for the year to date, too. The Polo’s bigger brother the Golf was in second place during May, no doubt buoyed by the arrival of the refreshed Mk ‘7.5’ model.

While we’d expect demand for the Polo to stay stable for a little while yet, the new sixth-generation model will be revealed later this month. Overall, the SMMT states that UK new car demand has fallen 8.5 per cent, with 186,265 vehicles registered, but still over 1.1 million new cars have been registered since January. The UK’s top 10 most popular passenger cars during May 2017 and the year-to-date (sales figure and position in brackets) were as follows:

1 Ford Fiesta: 7,617 (50,779, 1st)
2 Volkswagen Golf: 5,449 (27,895, 4th)
3 Nissan Qashqai: 4,970 (28,471, 3rd)
4 Ford Focus: 4,455 (31,762, 2nd)
5 Volkswagen Polo: 4,247 (22,500, 8th)
6 Vauxhall Astra: 4,170 (25,431, 6th)
7 Vauxhall Corsa: 4,056 (27,821, 5th)
8 Mercedes-Benz C Class: 4,046 (23,284, 7th)
9 Mini: 3,535 (19,952, 10th)
10 Mercedes-Benz A Class: 3,367 (19,222, 9th)

In other sales-related news, during May 2017 the Polo lost its second best-selling car status in South Africa to the Toyota Auris/Corolla/Corolla Quest, losing out by just 39 units! However, the face-lifted Mk 4 Polo-based Polo Vivo still sat astride the top of the country’s sales charts, with 1,955 examples registered.

Elsewhere, according to JATO Dynamics, the Polo is the third most popular car in Austria so far in 2017, behind family members the Golf and Tiguan. It also shares the same place in Demark, behind the Peugeot 208 and Nissan Qashqai, and also in Germany, where it trails the Golf and Tiguan once again.

World’s most popular supermini
The Polo was also among the top ten registered cars in Italy for 2016, and so far during 2017, the small Volkswagen is – that’s right! – the third most popular car in Europe. With a total of 148,331 global registrations, it is also the world’s most popular supermini, even if those numbers are reportedly down 3.4 per cent. A total of 704,062 Polos were registered in 2016, making it the world’s eighth most popular car, according to the FM Global Mobility Database.