Ford knocked off the top in Britain by...the Corsa

Arthur Daley

UK's 10 best-selling cars of 2021 REVEALED | This is Money

Tesla is Britain's second favourite car: All-electric Model 3 sets a new record as it becomes the second most-bought car in 2021 (but the Vauxhall Corsa comes out on top)

• New car sales edged higher in 2021 in a year described by industry bosses as 'desperately disappointing'
• Computer chip shortages and a rise in electric vehicle demand has seen a shift among the top 10 best sellers
• Ford's Fiesta has lost its crown as the nation's favourite new car - a record it has held for 12 consecutive years
• Here's a countdown of the motors that sold in biggest numbers in 2021 - and how a Transit van beat them all 

The Fiesta fell out of the top 10 altogether from it's dominant position as number 1. Tesla Model 3 performance is a bit of an earthquake too.

Pure Diesel down to 8%, Pure Petrol holding some ground at 46%.

Leonard Hofstadter

If you add in mild hybrid (every 'i'/'d' badge BMW would come under this category now) then petrol still has 58.3% of the market Add in hybrids like the various Toyotas and petrol climbs to 67%. Diesel's race is run in the UK; even adding in MHEV for diesel, it's only 14.2%. But when you add it all up, 81.4% of cars sold in the UK last year didn't have any sort of plug (petrol + diesel + MHEV + HEV) despite all the hype about electric cars.

Fossil fuel powered cars aren't quite dead just yet.

MTU

The Green Party giving out about suv. Is it the machine or the driver?

Arthur Daley

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118430934#Comment_118430934

True, the 2030 targets are unrealistic. But by 2040 who knows. Surprised how much the Tesla outsells the VW ID cars

5605 of the Corsa-Es were electric which for a supermini is a great.

https://www.topgear.com/car-news/vauxhall-corsa-was-uks-best-selling-car-2021

Markus Antonius

Very proud of the Corsa! Great little cars.

Atlantic Dawn

We are still at diesel the most popular accounting for just over a third 33.44%, are our dealers just living in the dark ages as regards how to sell new technology.

https://www.rte.ie/news/business/2022/0104/1269802-2021-new-car-registrations-up-19/

Leonard Hofstadter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118431043#Comment_118431043

84.5% of cars sold here didn't have a plug in them either last year. There's life in the old dog yet.

As for why diesel is the most popular fuel here, it's simple - the sheer convenience of being able to do 1000 + km on a tank, and when you do have to fill up, only five minutes of your time. There's an awful lot to be said for it. The crippling levels of VRT on new cars means that despite all the improvements made with petrol engines, diesels still have a CO2 and hence VRT and motor tax advantage over petrols in some cases, meaning they're cheaper to buy new and still cheaper to run. Diesel is still 10 cent a litre cheaper than petrol in most filling stations, given how outrageously expensive fuel is at the moment, every little helps in terms of running costs filling up. Diesel is still popular in SUVs and premium brand cars for this reason.

Atlantic Dawn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118431056#Comment_118431056

Yes the bigger SUV's I can understand but with all the work from home I'd have thought market would have collapsed for need to do 1000km on a single tank, then again looking at the charging network here I would not like to be depending on that alone to get around.

PsychoPete

People have it drilled into them that if your doing 20,000kms or more a year that diesel is the only option. Worked with a fella that had the mindset of that so he'd be pushing people into diesels when they really didn't need it. He'd no interest in selling electric, wouldn't even learn how to charge one, the range etc even though we'd 5 or 6 Zoes at the time. He's living in the dark times, you need to move with technology when you're selling cars

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118431061#Comment_118431061

There’s no instant 2nd hand replacement market though to reflect changing work habits - we’re at the mercy of what people have previously purchased and a lot of that stock is diesel- and as for the prices of those cars!

Also there’s still uncertainty about the future of work- while a blended approach may well be acceptable in some companies others will be insisting on full time in the office.

The tipping point into electric will come when there’s more choice, cheaper options and longer ranges- choice and ranges are both starting to improve but prices of electric cars are crazy compared to the ICE equivalents- if you’re doing reduced mileage now- it will take 5-6 years to get back the savings on fuel and running costs vs the additional costs of purchase of an EV over an ICE equivalent

zilog_jones

It's always surprising to see how well Vauxhalls are selling in the UK, compared to Opel here who aren't even in the top 10 by make or model. The Corsa is no. 41 in 2021 in Ireland. I wonder how much of it is their failure to break the crossover SUV market, dealer network, or something else?

Now with the Stellantis merger, and Peugeot selling arguably better-looking cars built on the same platforms with the same drivetrains - I don't really get the point in Opel at all. They don't seem to be targeting a different market, except maybe those with preconceptions about "French" cars.

theteal

Yeah Vauxhalls sell by the truckload over here. The Corsa sells lots coz it's cheap but that crossover yoke (cannot think of the model) doesn't have the same excuse, there are so many of those on the roads also. I think there's a lot of weird national pride behind it too, this is brexitland afterall.

How is the Puma doing in Ireland? Again I see lots of them but where I live I think there's a lot of family histories/loyalty with the Ford plants at Dunton and Dagenham not being a million miles away. Similarly I see lots of EcoSports and Edges here but I can't say I've seen any on my, ever rarer, visits back home.

Corsa is selling very well in Germany and was top seller in November so it isn't all about Union Jack Flag waving.

Stellantis appear to be pushing Opel/Vauxhall in DACH and UK with PSA brands being pushed elsewhere.

There are some obscenely cheap lease deals on Opel Corsa in Germany at under 99 euro per month, even lease deals on the EV version are amazingly cheap.

Corsa was first in Croatia as well and Stellantis/PSA outsold Renault in France.

Stellantis are making money out of a brand and dealer network which GM had no idea to exploit.

GM was outsold by Toyota in US in 2021.

It appears that GM and Ford have forgotten what the public want and are just retreating in to (currently) profitable niches.

https://bestsellingcarsblog.com/

colm_mcm

The Mokka used to be the top selling car in Scotland for a long time.

Patriotism sells cars. Either loyalty to a brand or loyalty to British factories for foreign brands (look at Peugeot in the uk 10-20 years ago compared to here for example)

zilog_jones

The whole "patriotism" thing is amusing, considering the Corsa has always been built in Spain (occasionally Germany), and the only thing "British" about it is that some people in Luton decided it should have some different badges on it for the UK market. At least the Astra is built in England...

Leonard Hofstadter

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118462049#Comment_118462049

The Astra isn't even going to be built in Ellesmere Port, the plant is being re-tooled to make some vans...