Honest John Guides New Cars

Best-selling cars in the UK 2025

British car buyers' appetite for SUVs continues in 2025 with eight of them making the top 10 best-sellers list for the first 11 months of the year, headed overall by the Ford Puma.

Last year's best-selling car, the Ford Puma, has retained its position at the top of the sales charts so far in 2025 according to the latest official registration figures.

Although the Kia Sportage ran it very close during 2024, the Ford Puma remains the current year-to-date best-seller. Ford chalked-up a further 4859 registrations during November 2025 to widen the gap over the second-placed Kia with 3649 registrations for the month.

That eight of 2025's 10 best-sellers so far are SUVs should surprise nobody given how in-demand these high-rise models have been for years. Car buyers appreciate their elevated seating positions and additional practicality — whether there's an additional belief that they're more adept at dealing with the nation's pot-holed roads is surely worthy of an academic study.

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1. Ford Puma

50,808 registered

After a disappointing start to 2025's sales campaign, the Ford Puma seized the top spot in March with a very strong showing for the first full month of 25-plate registrations, flip-flopping between first and second positions since. With good reason, too — it's one of the very best cars on sale full stop, not just among small SUVs.

The Ford Puma is blessed with excellent handling and a huge boot, making it both fun to drive and practical for younger families. Its range of mild hybrid 1.0-litre EcoBoost petrol engines perfectly suit the Puma's sportiness, while its comfortable cabin makes it great for urban jaunts and long motorway trips.

It's also available in fully electric guise as the Ford Puma Gen-E — will that model's introduction help it remain at the top for the rest of 2025?

2. Kia Sportage

45,814 registered

The current Kia Sportage is a distinctive looking, family-sized SUV — although, arguably slightly less bold than the Hyundai Tucson it shares its underpinnings and engines with. It's no longer a budget buy, with a starting price north of £30,000 but you get masses of kit for your money, backed by Kia's seven-year warranty.

Mild, self-charging and plug-in petrol hybrids are available but there's no diesel alternative these days. The facelifted Kia Sportage has been on sale since the summer — expect to see plenty of those refreshed models on the road in the latter half of 2025 judging by how it grabbed September's top sales position.

3. Nissan Qashqai

38,254 registered

A mid-life makeover for the 2024's best-selling British-built car has reinvigorated the Nissan Qashqai, keeping it looking fresh-faced in the company of newer rivals — so much so it was June 2025's best-seller.

It's an effective family SUV with a comfortable, good quality interior peppered with practical touches and complemented by an enormous boot. There's no diesel option as the range consists of mild hybrids and the self-charging variety — the latter, badged e-Power, operates in a way that maximises its its electric drive potential, making it a cost-effective plug-in hybrid alternative. 

4. Vauxhall Corsa

34,241 registered

Getting off to a strong start in 2025 is the Vauxhall Corsa, aided and abetted by very attractive deals on its Yes specification models. These have seen a surge of buyers tempted to go battery-powered as the Yes-grade versions of the Vauxhall Corsa Electric are great value for money.

Despite several manufacturers abandoning the small hatchback market, many customers still want new models of similar dimensions to what they're trading in, allowing various Stellantis brands to capitalise on the opportunity. With the Ford Fiesta now consigned to the annals of history, the Corsa could be picking up Blue Oval loyalists coming to the end of their PCP deals for a year or two more yet. 

5. Nissan Juke

32,447 registered

Strong sales have seen the Nissan Juke cement its Top 10 ranking overall for 2025's year-to-date sales. Built alongside the Nissan Qashqai in Nissan's northeastern England plant, the Juke's styling remains distinctive but isn't as divisive as the original's, broadening its appeal to the benefit of sales volumes.

The Juke received a freshen-up in 2024 inside and out although the engine range, shared with its Renault Captur cousin, remains essentially as before, with a choice of petrol and self-charging hybrids. Nissan has recently confirmed that an all-new electric-only Juke will go on sale during 2026 sitting below the all-new Nissan Leaf SUV in its line-up.

6. Volkswagen Golf

30,526 registered

Comfort, solidity and fine handling are long-standing Volkswagen Golf hallmarks, qualities amplified further thanks to its 2024 facelift, which introduced a swathe of interior improvements that have largely banished our previous gripes about this VW.

The best-selling non-SUV of 2024, the Golf's available with a wide range of petrol and diesel engines, in addition to mild and plug-in hybrid options, although the even roomier Volkswagen Golf Estate is no longer available to order.

Underneath, the Golf continues to share hardware with the better-value SEAT Leon and Skoda Octavia as well as the pricier Audi A3 and Cupra Leon.

7. Volkswagen Tiguan

27,866 registered

British buyers have a long-standing fondness for the Volkswagen Tiguan which appears to have continued with this third-generation model. A strong start to 2025 has seen the VW vault into the top 10 for the year-to-date as the brand's second best-selling car, with only the Golf ahead of it.

Spacious, well-equipped and built to a high standard, the Tiguan's a family focused SUV that can prove inexpensive to run with a choice of efficient petrols and diesels as well as eHybrid PHEV options.

Note that the old seven-seater Tiguan Allspace has been replaced by the Volkswagen Tayron, so its sales tally isn't counted here.

8. MG HS

27,388 registered

MG HS

Following a positive jump in sales during June, the MG HS is continuing to win buyers over with its combination of excellent value for money and high levels of standard equipment since this all-new model appeared in summer 2024.

Like its predecessor, it's available in petrol-only and fuel-sipping plug-in hybrid guises, the latter appealing to those who don't yet feel ready to go full EV. Further expansion of the line-up from May 2025 also saw the arrival of the first self-charging hybrid-powered MG HS, providing even broader customer choice.

9. Hyundai Tucson

27,261 registered

Hyundai Tucson

Sharing its underpinnings and the full suite of mild, self-charging and plug-in hybrid-assisted engines with the Kia Sportage, the Hyundai Tucson is pitched a little further upmarket in terms of price, equipment and interior finish.

Other than those factors there's little to separate them aside from which of the pair's styling appeals more and whether the Hyundai's five-year/unlimited mileage warranty would serve you better than the Kia's seven-year/100,000-mile alternative. Either way, the Tucson should provide years of reliable and fuel-efficient service.

10. Volvo XC40

27,085 registered

Volvo XC40

Normally when a car's at the wintry end of autumn in its production run, sales tend to tail-off dramatically, but that's not the case with the popular Volvo XC40.

Today's line-up isn't as comprehensive as it used to be for the chunky SUV, restricted to just two mild hybrid-assisted petrols and only front-wheel drive. The fully electric version remains on sale but is now badged Volvo EX40 and therefore its sales aren't figured into this tally any more. Safe, well equipped and decent value, sales appear set to continue defy its age for a while yet.

UK car sales insights

While the overall 2025 sales picture is bright, November's figures dipped by 1.6% overall, influenced by a 5.5% fall in sales to private buyers

Demand for EVs continued to be boosted by the government's Electric Car Grant (ECG), it was the smallest level of growth for electric cars all year, perhaps influenced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget announcement that they will be subjected to a mileage-based tax from 2028.

The chances of the UK maintaining its status as Europe's largest market for pure EVs looks increasingly likely but at a significant cost — the SMMT's figures indicate that car manufacturers have spent over £6.5billion incentivising electric models in order to meet the government mandates they're presently still falling short of.

  • For the first eleven months of 2025 1,874,271 cars have been registered, representing a positive 3.4% increase over 2024's tally of 1,811,992 over the corresponding period.
  • Petrol-engined cars continue to dominate with 47.0% of 2025's sales although the 880,331 total represents a significant 8.3% decline over 2024's equivalent figures.
  • Electric cars now have a 22.7% market share so far in 2025 with 426,209 sales representing an enormous 26.0% increase compared with the same period in 2024.
  • Self-charging hybrids have captured a 14.0% slice of the market with 261,755 registrations — a 7.5% rise over the same months in 2024.
  • Plug-in hybrids represent the largest market growth in 2025, enjoying a 34.8% increase over 2024 so far, totting-up 208,245 sales for an 11.1% stake of the market.
  • Diesel's decline continues in the UK with a 15.8% fall in sales compared with 2024, taking just 5.2% of 2025's registrations so far. That still represents 97,731 cars making diesels worthwhile for those manufacturers which continue to offer such models.

Which were the UK's best-selling cars in November 2025?

Some quirks appear in November's top 10 best-sellers with four models not in the equivalent rankings for the year-to-date.

Statistics fans should note that this is the Jaecoo 7's fourth consecutive month among the top 10 best-sellers — not at all bad from a brand that was new to the UK less than a year ago.

Another interesting inclusion is the Volkswagen T-Roc, which is on the cusp of being replaced by a brand new generation. Let's hope those buyers got some great deals as dealers flushed out their remaining unsold stock:

  1. Ford Puma — 4859 registrations
  2. Kia Sportage — 3649 registrations
  3. Nissan Qashqai — 3004 registrations
  4. Nissan Juke — 2835 registrations
  5. Volkswagen T-Roc — 2768 registrations
  6. Volkswagen Golf — 2742 registrations
  7. Vauxhall Corsa — 2564 registrations
  8. Jaecoo 7 — 2404 registrations
  9. MINI Cooper — 2124 registrations
  10. Audi A3 — 2114 registrations

Which were the UK's best-selling cars in October 2025?

Some models experience spikes in their sales which sees them enter the top 10 for a given month but not for the year overall — compare October 2025's top 10 below with the registrations for the year so far shown above:

  1. Ford Puma — 4418 registrations
  2. Kia Sportage — 3431 registrations
  3. MINI Cooper — 2653 registrations
  4. Volkswagen Golf — 2621 registrations
  5. Nissan Juke — 2617 registrations
  6. Jaecoo 7 — 2611 registrations
  7. Nissan Qashqai — 2416 registrations
  8. Volkswagen Tiguan — 2380 registrations
  9. Vauxhall Corsa — 2350 registrations
  10. Audi A3 — 2192 registrations

Which are the UK's best-selling car brands in 2025?

Volkswagen has enjoyed an impressive first 11 months of 2025, being the only brand to break 150,000 registrations so far this year. There's a significant gulf between its top-ranking sales tally and BMW in second place.

Perhaps surprisingly given its line-up of models isn't as broad, Ford has regained third position from Kia, although the margin is merely 262 registrations, so it's all to play for in the year's final month.

Rounding-out the top 10 are Audi in fifth position ahead of Hyundai, Toyota, Mercedes, Nissan and Peugeot respectively — sixth to nineth places being separated by 3346 registrations. Vauxhall has dropped down to 12th place having been overtaken by Skoda.

Of the recently launched Chinese brands BYD's sales tally continues to impress as it's broken into this year's top 20 best-selling marques.

Meanwhile, the accumulated registrations of Chery, Jaecoo and Omoda — all part of the same company — are extraordinary compared with more established brands. Combined together, the three brands would hold 17th position for the year so far, one place better than BYD. The Jaecoo 7 had its fourth consecutive month in the top 10 in November.

There's less happy reading at the bottom of the chart for relative newcomers Skywell with just 27 examples of its BE11 electric SUV registered so far in 2025. New entrant Changan has already registered 113 more examples of its Deepal S07 in only its third month on the market, while Geely accrued 353 registrations in its first month alone.

Ranking Brand Manufacturing Group  2025 Registrations (to end of October)
1 Volkswagen Volkswagen Group 167,011
2 BMW BMW Group 114,035
3 Ford Ford Motor Company 109,304
4 Kia Hyundai Motor Company 109,042
5 Audi Volkswagen Group 102,856
6 Hyundai Hyundai Motor Company 87,570
7 Toyota Toyota Motor Corporation 84,873
8 Mercedes Mercedes-Benz Group 84,306
9 Nissan Nissan Motor Corporation* 84,224
10 Peugeot Stellantis 79,984
11 Skoda Volkswagen Group 78,481
12 Vauxhall Stellantis 77,792
13 MG SAIC Motor Corporation 75,309
14 Volvo Zhejiang Geely Holding Group 62,479
15 Renault Renault Group* 60,389
16 Land Rover Tata Motors 56,814
17 BYD BYD Company 43,740
18 MINI BMW Group 42,995
19 Tesla Tesla Inc. 39,227
20 Cupra Volkswagen Group 38,181
21 Mazda Mazda Motor Corporation^ 30,294
22 Dacia Renault Group* 28,397
23 Jaecoo Chery Automobile Co. 24,418
24 Honda Honda Motor Co. 22,330
25 SEAT Volkswagen Group 21,615
26 Citroen Stellantis 19,084
27 Omoda Chery Automobile Co. 18,051
28 Suzuki Suzuki Motor Corporation^ 17,240
29 Porsche Volkswagen Group 16,980
30 Lexus Toyota Motor Corporation 15,357
31 Polestar Zhejiang Geely Holding Group 15,226
32 Jeep Stellantis 10,101
33 Fiat Stellantis 8,615
34 Chery Chery Automobile Co. 3,930
35 Leapmotor Zhejiang Leapmotor# 2,984
36 Other British   2,856
37 Alfa Romeo Stellantis 2,705
38 Subaru Subaru Corporation^ 1,994
39 Jaguar Tata Motors 1,725
40 Smart Mercedes-Benz and Zhejiang Geely 1,580
41 KGM KG Group 1,505
42 Other Imports   1,495
43 Alpine Renault Group* 1,369
44 Genesis Hyundai Motor Company 1,157
45 DS Stellantis 1,003
46 Bentley Volkswagen Group 939
47 XPeng Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors 750
48 GWM Great Wall Motor Company 469
49 Geely Zhejiang Geely Holding Group 353
50 Maserati Stellantis 320
51 Abarth Stellantis 287
52 Ineos Ineos Automotive 253
53 Changan China Changan Automobile Group 120
54 Chevrolet General Motors 84
55 Maxus SAIC Motor Corporation 46
56 Skywell Skyworth Group 27

*Strategic partnership within the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance

^Shareholding owned by the Toyota Motor Corporation

#Shareholding owned by Stellantis

What are the UK's best-selling cars over the last 50 years?

Over the past 50 years the variety of brands, models, shapes and sizes of cars to have been the UK's annual-best-seller is extraordinary. Which of these cars have played a part in your motoring history?

What is the UK's best-selling car of all time?

With 4,132,294 sales to its name, the Ford Fiesta is the most popular car ever sold in the UK. Of course, that's the total number of cars badged Fiesta over seven generations across six different decades: