Volkswagen was UK’s best-selling car brand in 2024 – who were the other winners and losers?

• Volkswagen was UK’s best-selling car brand in 2024
• Big gains for BYD, Renault and Mercedes
• Drop in sales for Polestar, Ford and Vauxhall

Volkswagen has been confirmed as the UK’s best-selling car brand of 2024 according to data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). It marks the fourth year in a row that the German brand has landed in top spot, with 2024 seeing 166,000 cars delivered to UK customers.

It was the Volkswagen Golf that pulled most of the weight for VW in 2024 as the UK’s sixth best-selling model overall. The Volkswagen Polo remained in the top 10 best-sellers, too, despite not having been updated since 2021.

Who were the other winners in 2024?

Besides Volkswagen, there were some other clear winners in the UK car market in 2024 according to the SMMT. With 125,000 sales, BMW was the second most popular brand overall and the best-selling premium carmaker last year, overtaking Audi. Still, the four-ringed German brand was the third best-selling brand overall, despite an 11% drop in sales.

Mercedes remains in third place out of the three big premium German brands, but it saw an impressive 17% increase in sales over last year. There were strong results for Renault, too, which posted a 36% uptick in sales, helping it to close the gap to rival French carmaker Peugeot. Jeep’s sales nearly tripled in 2024, partly due to new petrol and hybrid versions of the Avenger small SUV joining the EV in showrooms. 

The biggest gain over 2023 goes to BYD, which saw sales jump from just 1,158 to 8,788 cars in 2024 – a whopping 659% increase. Mind you, that still doesn’t put a dent in Tesla’s sales numbers in the UK. The American firm sold over 50,000 cars last year, with the Model Y achieving nearly twice as many sales as the next best-selling EV, the Audi Q4 e-tron.

Which brands lost out in 2024?

It wasn’t all good news last year, however. Swedish EV maker Polestar saw a drop in sales of over 30%, despite launching two new models last year – the Polestar 3 and Polestar 4. It was a similar story for Vauxhall, with the British brand selling around 79,000 cars in 2024 compared to over 100,000 in 2023. In fact, Vauxhall fell behind both MG and Hyundai in terms of outright sales.

Fellow Stellantis sub-brand DS sold fewer than half as many cars as it did in 2023, with only 1,152 finding buyers – something it will be hoping the upcoming DS No8 can rectify. Things looked shaky for some other Stellantis marques, too, with a downturn in sales for both Maserati and Fiat.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the year was Ford. The Ford Puma was the best-selling car overall in the UK last year, beating both the Kia Sportage and Nissan Qashqai. However, the ‘blue oval’ saw total sales across the lineup fall by over 34,000 compared to 2023 – a 24% decline. As a result, Ford actually sold more vans than it did cars in 2024.

How are things looking for EVs?

On the surface, things are looking pretty good for electric cars. They reached a record market share of 19.6% in 2024, which is a hefty increase over last year but still short of the UK Government’s 22% target.

Dig a bit deeper and there are some worrying trends. Despite the progress, the uptake of EVs remains uneven, with the majority of new EVs sold to fleet and business buyers. That’s down to the electric car Benefit-in-Kind tax incentives for business drivers, while private buyers remain hesitant. 

Only one in ten private buyers opted for an EV in 2024, with petrol vehicles continuing to dominate this segment, capturing 61% of private sales. Manufacturers tried to incentivise private EV sales with over £4.5 billion worth of discounts last year according to the SMMT, something that it says is not sustainable in the long term. 

Find out more about the best electric cars on sale today and the best new cars under £20,000…