Ford Fiesta still UK's number one car

The Ford Fiesta remains the UK’s most popular car by some margin while the Vauxhall Corsa continues to make ground against the Ford Focus in second place for the year so far.

Nissan’s Qashqai remains in 6^th position again this year to date, by far the biggest selling crossover in its sector. That will be music to the ears of the Japanese firm, who released details of an all-new Qashqai set for launch early next year.

The car industry’s road to recovery is still going strong after new car sales figures for October reveal 157,314 new cars have been registered during the month, a rise of four percent from last year and the 20^th consecutive month of growth.

Year on year the UK is currently 10 percent up on new car registrations. 

According to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – or SMMT -the private market has seen the biggest lift year to date with 940,659 new cars registered verses the 813,133 registered this time last year, a growth of 15.7 percent.

Fleet and business sales combined take a new 52% share of the car market for the year to date, down compared with the 54% for the same period last year.

“With October new car registrations up we have now seen 20 consecutive months of growth,” said Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive. “These sustained rises have been driven by robust private demand, a trend that has given us the confidence to raise our year-end forecast to 2.25 million units – 10 percent ahead of last year. Looking ahead, we anticipate more moderate growth as the market stabilises.”

The supermini segment remains the most popular sector making up 36 percent of all sales, as downsizing is still a prevalent trend for UK car buyers looking for greater fuel efficiency, lower emissions and cheaper running costs.

Unsurprisingly, saloon and estate cars continue to see a decrease in popularity, now making up only nine percent of total sales (a fall of almost 10 percent since 2003).

Below is a list of the top 10 best sellers for the month and year so far. Click on the links below to read our full reviews of the cars.

Best sellers – October 2013

1. Ford Fiesta – 8,574
2. Vauxhall Corsa – 5,155
3. Ford Focus – 5,069
4. Volkswagen Golf – 4,562
5. Vauxhall Astra – 4,420
6. Nissan Qashqai – 3,579
7. Nissan Juke – 2,997
8. Vauxhall Insignia – 2,719
9. Fiat 500 – 2,672
10. BMW 3 Series – 2,582

Best sellers – year-to-date 2013

1. Ford Fiesta  – 104,621
2. Ford Focus – 76,493
3. Vauxhall Corsa – 72,903
4. Vauxhall Astra – 57,758
5. Volkswagen Golf – 56,357
6. Nissan Qashqai – 44,649
7. BMW 3 Series – 37,066
8. BMW 1 Series – 36,529
9. Volkswagen Polo – 36,362
10. Peugeot 208 – 34,253