Hyundai outsells Ford and Vauxhall to top UK retail sales charts in August
Hyundai sold more cars to retail customers in August than any other brand, overtaking Ford and Vauxhall. The figures, which would have seemed inconceivable a few months ago, show that Hyundai’s overall sales for the month rose 323% compared to August last year to 3,737. It gives Hyundai a record overall market share of 5.6%.
The i10 city car has been the company’s biggest success, with 2,431 finding homes in August. This makes it Britain’s third best selling car, relegating the Vauxhall Corsa to fourth place.
Remove fleet sales from the equation and the i10’s achievement is even more impressive. The city car is not only the most popular model bought by retail customers, but it outsold the second placed car by a factor of more than two to one!
Hyundai’s managing director, Tony Whitehorn, said: “These are truly historic figures for Hyundai. There are now thousands of happy new Hyundai drivers, and these owners’ recommendations will become our best advertising. It will ensure that Hyundai’s success continues years to come.”
Although the August figures are amazing, many Hyundai buyers chose to delay registering their new cars until September, allowing them to have a car wearing the new ‘59’ registration numbers. This means that Hyundai’s sales figures this month are set to be even more impressive.
“We are well on the way to making September the best ever month for sales in the company’s history” said Mr Whitehorn. “Our dealers have taken on an average of 20% more staff to cope with demand.”
Continued busy scrappage trading also helped market leader Ford to take 16.9 per cent of total August registrations – up from 16.1 per cent a year ago. While August's car market grew by 6 per cent year on year, Ford's sales leapt by 17 per cent, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
Almost 1,400 of Ford's 10,755 car registrations in August this year were to customers scrapping a 10-year-old vehicle or older in return for a minimum £2,000 incentive. Ford sold 9,199 cars last August – traditionally the second smallest market ahead of September's annual plate change.
As scrappage scheme registrations are dominated by retail customers, increased deliveries of Ka, Fiesta and Focus models drove up Ford's private car sales by over 25 per cent last month. Ford has delivered over 13,000 vehicles to scrappage customers since the scheme began in May.
The Ford Focus, in particular, starred with 4,366 August registrations versus 2,933 in the same 2008 month. August's top selling car was the Ford Focus, while Ford Fiesta tops the year-to-date sales charts.
Nigel Sharp, Ford Britain managing director, said: "August proved to be a surprisingly strong run-up to this month's '59-plate' launch. The momentum of scrappage through early summer together with September's plate change suggests a busy month ahead at Ford dealerships."
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