News

Revealed: The cars that made dealers the most profit in July – and premium motors led the way

  • Mercedes C-Class was most profitable car in sub-£10,000 market
  • Land Rover was the most profitable brand
  • Latest Dealer Auction date reveals premium trends

Time 12:40 pm, August 13, 2025

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class gave dealers the highest retail margin in the sub-£10k retail bracket last month, while Land Rover continued to be most profitable brand.

Latest figures from Dealer Auction show the German saloon car was a potential winner for used car dealers, netting an average retail margin of £2,500.

The car, which has an average Auto Trader Retail Rating of 73, also took 33 days on average to shift from dealers’; forecourts.

Following the C-Class, and delivering a potential retail margin of just £50 less, is the Mercedes A-Class, followed by the BMW Series at £2,425.

While the A-Class was a fresh entry, July’s top 10 was otherwise composed of previous top performers from the year – including the BMW 3 Series (£2,425), Peugeot 3008 (£2,350) and BMW 1 Series (£2,330) in third to fifth places.

May and June’s respective top profit makers, the Hyundai Tucson and Ford Kuga, also remained in the chart.

Dealer Auction also looked at the cars retailing for over £10,000, and found that last month painted the same picture to June’s, with the Volvo XC90 giving a potential retail margin on £4,900, followed by the Land Rover Discovery Sport at £4,275, and the Range Rover Evoque at £3,960.

It means that in both categories – sub-£10,000 and over £10,000 – premium cars lead the way.

For brands, Land Rover was the most profitable car brand in the sub-£10,000 market with an average retail margin of £3,050, followed by Mercedes-Benz (£2,500), BMW (£2,400), Audi (£2,375), and Volvo (£2,235).

Subscribe to the Car Dealer weekly briefing

Commenting on the data, Dealer Auction’s marketplace director, Kieran TeeBoon, said: ‘When we changed the way we published our data at the start of 2025 – splitting the data set into two brackets: vehicles with a retail value of £0–£9,999 and over £10,000 – the expectation might have been more twists and turns, month to month.

‘While July’s top 10 may come as a surprise to some, it’s precisely what makes these models’ performance more compelling. In a more diverse dataset, repeated success is evidence of genuine, sustained consumer demand, something dealers can rely on when sourcing stock.’

TeeBoon added: ‘July saw premium makes and models delivering solid returns across both retail segments, which reflects strong consumer sentiment. This is supported by Auto Trader’s latest used car prices update, which stated that nine out of 10 people are at least as confident, if not more so, in their ability to afford their next car.

‘As we move further into the second half of 2025, it’s brilliant to see this demand.’

Top 10 models by retail margin
For models retailing at <£10,000

1. Mercedes-Benz C-Class

  • Average retail margin: £2,500
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 33
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 73

2. Mercedes-Benz A-Class


  • Average retail margin: £2,450
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 29
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 82

3. BMW 3 Series

  • Average retail margin: £2,425
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 33
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 73

4. Peugeot 3008

  • Average retail margin: £2,350
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 33
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 66

5. BMW 1 Series

  • Average retail margin: £2,330
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 26
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 91

6. Citroen C3

  • Average retail margin: £2,325
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 32
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 71

7. Peugeot 2008

  • Average retail margin: £2,300
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 30
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 77

8. Hyundai Tucson

  • Average retail margin: £2,275
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 29
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 78

9. Ford Kuga

  • Average retail margin: £2,250
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 32
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 71

10. Honda CR-V

  • Average retail margin: £2,225
  • Average Auto Trader days to sell: 31
  • Average Auto Trader Retail Rating: 76

James Batchelor's avatar

James – or Batch as he’s known – started at Car Dealer in 2010, first as the work experience boy, eventually becoming editor in 2013. He worked for Auto Express as editor-at-large from 2014 and was the face of Carbuyer’s YouTube reviews. In 2020, he went freelance and now writes for a number of national titles and contributes regularly to Car Dealer. In October 2021 he became Car Dealer's associate editor.



More stories...

Advert
Server V2