The Ford Fiesta has once again been named Britain’s favourite new car of the year after topping the sales charts with ease in 2019.
Almost 78,000 new Ford Fiestas were registered last year, easily clearing the 58,994 total of the car in second place, the Volkswagen Golf.
But it was a surprisingly tight battle for the runners-up spot, with the Ford Focus coming close in third with 56,619 registrations.
The Vauxhall Corsa finished the year on 54k units, the Mercedes-Benz A-Class was on 53k, and the Nissan Qashqai ended on 52k new cars sold.
Ford’s long-running Kuga still performed well in seventh place, just a few hundred units ahead of the Mini, with the Volkswagen Polo and Kia Sportage rounding out the top 10.
The arrival of several significant all-new models in 2020 – the Volkswagen Golf, Vauxhall Corsa and Ford Kuga – is expected to shake things up this year.
Although the UK new car market declined overall in 2020, Britain remains Europe’s second-largest, behind Germany. It is also, says the Society of Motoring Manufactures and Traders (SMMT), one of the most diverse, with 350 different models on offer.
Almost 90 new models are set to arrive in 2020, including 23 zero-emission cars and 11 plug-in hybrids, says the SMMT.
Whether any of them can budge the Ford Fiesta from the number one spot – success that’s made it Britain’s best-selling car of all time – remains to be seen…
Britain’s best-selling cars in 2019
1 Ford Fiesta: 77,833
2 Volkswagen Golf: 58,994
3 Ford Focus: 56,619
4 Vauxhall Corsa: 54,239
5 Mercedes-Benz A-Class: 53,724
6 Nissan Qashqai: 52,532
7 Ford Kuga: 41,671
8 Mini: 41,188
9 Volkswagen Polo: 37,453
10 Kia Sportage: 34,502