- Down on this time last year, unsurprisingly now that the handouts have dried up. Diesels now outselling petrols though, for the first time!
Excellent results for Vauxhall, and I guess Ford will be pleased too, with the soon-to-be-replaced Focus still claiming 4th place.
What's happened to the French? Don't we normally see a Clio and/or 207 in the top 10?
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The interesting bit of news - which was not picked up by the Telegraph's report, was that the supermini and mini segment volumes fell sharply. These are the sectors where very few diesel cars are sold. Correspondingly, the MPV and dual purpose (SUV) segments rose, accounting for one in eight new cars registered. In other words, in July, people bought bigger cars than usual, and people who get big cars in the UK tend to get diesels.
"Excellent results for Vauxhall"
Well, not that great. Sales were down 10.34% on last July, though market share up from 11.84% to 12.22%
"I guess Ford will be pleased too"
Ford's share of the market down from 15.70% to 13.52% on last July.
"What's happened to the French?"
Peugeot's share of the market up on last July from 5.2% to 5.65%
Renault's share of the market up on last July from 3.28% to 4.31%
Citroen's share of the market up on last July from 3.6% to 3.96%
"Don't we normally see a Clio and/or 207 in the top 10?"
We usually see 5 superminis in the top 10 - and there are 5 in year to date figures. But for July, unusually, only 3.
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On the back of the news that diesels outsold petrol for the first time last month, in today's times they ahd the top 10 best-selling diesels (year to July IIRC).
What struck me was how none of these cars were French (it was Focus, Golf, Mondeo, Insignia, Fiesta, 3-series, Passat, A3, 1-series, A4 - in roughly that order). I remember when the Citroen BX was the best-selling diesel, closely followed by 405, 205, etc. with their great XUD engine.
The modern PSA/Ford diesels are good, but obvioulsy not good enough when fitted to a French car to counter the German-car badge-snobbery.
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"The modern PSA/Ford diesels are good, but obvioulsy not good enough when fitted to a French car to counter the German-car badge-snobbery.What struck me was how none of these cars were French"
I think that basically, the rest of the world has caught up with the French. Back in the 1980s and 90s, the man on the street reckoned that the French made the best diesels - which may well have been true. Today, one diesel is about as good as another.
The modern PSA/Ford diesels are good, but obvioulsy not good enough when fitted to a French car to counter the German-car badge-snobbery.
Whether it's snobbery or not, there is no doubt that the German cars are selling well in the UK compared with 10 years ago.
Audi market share up from 1.94% in 2000 to 5.03% (ytd) in 2010
BMW market share up from 3.05% to 4.78%
Mercedes market share up from 2.87% to 3.45%
Porsche market share up from 0.18% to 0.34%
VW market share up from 7.01% to 8.73%
Total German share up from 15.05% to 22.33%
By way of contrast
Citroen down from 3.80% to 3.48%
Peugeot down from 8.51% to 5.42%
Renault down from 7.25% to 4.71%
Total French share down from 19.56% to 13.61%
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UK Sales figures for July - tyro
