The best-selling cars in the UK
Was it a hybrid SUV, a petrol-powered small car or perhaps an electric car which was the UK's best-selling model in 2024? The answer might surprise you...
The number of new cars sold in the UK in 2024 was up by 2.6% on the previous year – but the growth came almost entirely from company car fleets and businesses rather than from private buyers.
New data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reveals that of the 1,952,778 new cars registered in the previous 12 months, 14.9% went to fleets or businesses, with the former recording growth of 11.8% over 2023's numbers. Sales to private car buyers, meanwhile, were down by 8.7% compared with 2023.
That falling demand from private buyers has been blamed on the need to sell more electric cars. Car makers face fines of up to £15,000 per car if they don't sell a certain percentage of fully electric cars as part of the Zero-Emission Vehicle mandate. That figure was 22% of each manufacturer's total sales in 2024, and rises to 28% in 2025.
While company car fleets and businesses have been able to go green, buoyed by tax incentives, there has been a lack of demand from private buyers. The figures reveal that while one-in-five new cars sold in 2024 were fully electric, only one-in-ten private buyers chose an EV.
The Government may soon step in to help car makers, however, with business secretary Jonathan Reynolds telling a recent motor industry event that targets may be lowered in the short term, and noting that "the EV policies we inherited clearly aren't working as envisaged".
Elsewhere, demand for petrol and diesel-powered cars, including mild hybrids, fell by 4.4% and 13.6% respectively on the previous year. Despite that, cars powered by petrol still took the lion's share of sales, representing 52.2% of the total for 2024, while diesel cars accounted for just 6.3% – down from 7.5% in 2023. To put those numbers into context, more buyers chose a plug-in hybrid car in 2024 than a diesel car.
But which models were the biggest sellers across the year? Below we've listed the top 10. And if you like the look of any of them, just follow the links to read more or see how much you can save with our New Car Deals service.
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