1:33 pm, September 6, 2021
The Ford Puma was August’s best-selling new car while the Vauxhall Corsa strengthened its grip as the most popular car sold so far in 2021, new figures show.
Data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) today (Sept 6) shows 1,801 Pumas were sold last month, placing the crossover in the top spot in August’s best-selling car chart.
Just a few units behind was July’s best-seller, the Volkswagen Polo, at 1,761 units, and ranked in third and fourth were also the runners up in July’s chart – the Toyota Yaris (1,480) and Kia’s Sportage (1,355).
Following in fifth was the BMW 3 Series (1,277) while sixth went to the Hyundai Tucson (1,169).
The Vauxhall Corsa finished in seventh just three units behind the Tucson, and the Ford Fiesta followed in eighth with 1,057 units registered.
The Mercedes A-Class was in ninth (1,047) and rounding off the top 10 was Toyota’s Corolla with 1,033 cars registered.
August saw the Corsa strengthen its lead as the UK’s most popular car so far in 2021. The British brand has registered just over 27,300 Corsas between January and August.
Its perennial rival, the Ford Fiesta, stays in second with 24,578, followed by the Volkswagen Golf at 22,997.
The rest of the top 10 was made up of the A-Class, Puma, Polo, Sportage, Yaris, 3 Series and Nissan Qashqai.
A total of 68,033 cars were registered last month.
It was the weakest August since 2013 and was down 7.6 per cent against the average recorded over the last decade.
Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said: ‘While August is normally one of the quietest months for UK new car registrations these figures are still disappointing, albeit not wholly surprising.
‘The global shortage of semiconductors has affected UK, and indeed global, car production volumes so new car registrations will inevitably be undermined.’
