These Were The UK’s 10 Best-Selling Cars In 2025

If you ever need a reminder that, to most people, cars are just a means of getting about, they come no more starkly than with the annual list of Britain’s best-selling cars. It’s always equal parts fascinating and a little disheartening to kick off the new year with a canter through the entirely unremarkable metal that UK car buyers have been throwing their cash (or more likely, their PCP contracts) at. So, without further ado, join us for a look at 2025’s chart-toppers, based on preliminary data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.

10. Hyundai Tucson - 28,613 sales

Frankly, if we simply had to direct somebody towards a mid-sized crossover, the Hyundai Tucson would probably be it. It looks good, it’s practical, it’s got a sensible and well-made interior, comes with a good range of engines, and drives satisfyingly. Exciting? Definitely not, but it’s a solid all-rounder and we can’t really blame the 28,613 people that picked one up.

9. Volkswagen Tiguan - 29,857 sales

One of the Tucson’s chief rivals just edges it out to make ninth place, and all the things we just said about the Hyundai could just as easily be applied to the VW. Well, except for the ‘sensible interior’ bit, the third-gen Tiguan hailing from Volkswagen’s age of haptic silliness which, we hope, it’s about to leave behind. Still, its appearance on the list is evidence of both the power of the VW badge and people’s appetite for this kind of vehicle.

8. MG HS - 30,191 sales

Look, we’ll be honest with you – we had to check MG’s website to remind ourselves what the HS is. Turns out it’s the bigger of the company’s two combustion-based crossovers, occupying the same sort of space as the Tucson and Tiguan but comfortably beating either on price. It’s likely that value prospect that’s led to the HS once again appearing on the list and, somewhat surprisingly, remaining the only Chinese car to make the top 10.

7. Volvo XC40 - 30,404 sales

Volvo’s baby SUV will celebrate its ninth birthday in 2026, making it handily the oldest car on this list, but its popularity shows no signs of slowing down – it actually moves up two spots from 2024 to 2025. Why do people keep buying it? Because it’s handsome, well-made and offers probably the best interior in its segment. Of all the small-ish, posh-ish crossovers, this is the one we’d have, so it’s nice to see 30,404 Brits agreed with us last year.

6. Volkswagen Golf - 32,478 sales

What’s that? A hatchback? And one that outsold a crossover from the same brand? Well done, people of Britain! Then again, it’s never too surprising to see the Golf make an appearance in the yearly top 10 – in a car market that’s arguably seen more momentous change in the past five years than it had for decades before, the Golf remains a faithful constant, especially following 2024’s facelift that ironed out a lot of the early issues with the Mk8. It's nice to know that at least some of this success is being driven by the GTI and R hot hatches, too.

5. Nissan Juke - 34,773 sales

Every year, the Nissan Juke makes an appearance in the top 10, and every year, we stray a little further from the light.

4. Vauxhall Corsa - 35,947 sales

Another hatchback! Hooray! The Vauxhall Corsa’s had a bit of a resurgence over the last year, thanks to lots of attractive offers and a generally strong value proposition. It also helps that, regardless of your preconceptions about the Corsa, it’s a genuinely good little car, and one that covers plenty of bases by coming in petrol, hybrid or fully electric forms.

3. Nissan Qashqai - 41,141 sales

Yes, the car that invented the crossover as we know it really is still as ubiquitous as it seems. In fact, the Qashqai finished in exactly the same place last year as it did the year before. Why? Because it’s basically fine – reliable, well-equipped, decent to drive, well-suited for family life and, following its 2024 facelift, actually quite good-looking. And who knows, maybe its unexpected inclusion in Gran Turismo 7 spurred on a few more sales. We doubt it though.

2. Kia Sportage - 47,788 sales

The top three favourites are actually unchanged between 2024 and 2025, which means Kia’s mid-sized family crossover once again finishes runner-up. Since it’s basically the same underneath as the Hyundai Tucson, all the same nice things we said about that car apply to this one. The Kia starts a few grand cheaper, though, which is likely what cemented it as the more popular choice. It was also treated to a facelift in 2025, helping keep it fresh and appealing for UK buyers.

1. Ford Puma - 55,488 sales

Yes, for third year running, Britain’s favourite new car is the Ford Puma. Despite Ford being long-unseated as the biggest-selling overall brand in the UK, its baby crossover – essentially designed to replace the Fiesta in its range – is still flying out of showrooms. That figure equates to roughly 152 of them being sold every day. That’s no doubt down to it remaining an affordable, nice-to-drive car from a brand that still has a lot of resonance with UK buyers, while sales of the electric Gen-E version might have been spurred on by it being one of the first cars to qualify for the government’s full £3750 Band 1 EV grant. Will anything unseat it next year? We’ll find out in 12 months, but frankly, we doubt it.

What else have we learned?

The SMMT’s data throws up some other interesting info on UK buying habits. Notably, while the Tesla Model Y was the fifth-best-selling car overall in 2024, no electric-only models made the top 10 in 2025 (although the Puma, Corsa and XC40 all come with full EV options). This, we feel, has more to do with Tesla’s fall from grace than the general state of the EV market, although the Model Y and Model 3 still occupy first and second respectively among the best-selling EVs in 2025.

Once again, Britain’s favourite brand in 2025 was Volkswagen, with a massive 178,607 sales – 8.8 per cent of the 2,020,520 new cars registered last year. Second was BMW with 122,723 sales, evidence of Brits’ appetite for a posh badge, although, after a period off the podium, Ford managed to muscle its way back into third with 118,998 sales.

At the other end of the scale, the worst-selling brand was technically Fisker with zero sales but, since it went bankrupt in 2024, that’s not really surprising. Among brands that still exist, Chinese newcomer Skywell performed the worst, shifting just 31 units of its sole offering, the BE11 electric crossover. You could pin that on its newness to the market, but given that Jaecoo, another Chinese brand that was equally unheard of to the British market not very long ago, sold 28,232 cars, it doesn’t exactly bode well for Skywell.

Speaking of Chinese companies, which have gained an enormous foothold in Britain in the last year, the biggest-selling was MG, although it’s likely given a leg-up by still technically being a brand with a lot of recognition and history in Britain. Among brands with fully Chinese origins, the most popular was unsurprisingly BYD – its 51,422 units were more than mainstays like Citroen, Honda, Mazda or Mini managed to sell.