August’s Car Makers Premier League (based on the SMMT figures for UK new car registrations in August 2009) really is a tale of two halves. The top 11 car makers this month have all outperformed the market by some distance. Hyundai stay at the top with a staggering 323 percent increase year on year and Kia stay in second position with another three figure percentage increase of 135. Suzuki have swopped places with Volvo this month and storm back in at number 5 with a 55 percent increase on last year while Volvo’s figure of just 693 registrations takes them out of the top 20.
Mazda have vacated the bottom spot, moving up to 17th with a 17 percent drop on August 2008. Holding up the table this month is, somewhat surprisingly, Vauxhall who appear to suffering quite badly from buyers fears regarding the uncertainty over the brands future. They have registered 37% fewer cars than they did in August last year amounting to a painful 3,495 units.
All eyes will be on September’s plate change figures with anticipation of further good news. Many observers, however, will also be taking a nervous look in the direction of Germany whose scrappage incentive has just ended and many are predicting the September figures to fall off a cliff.
So congratulations once again to Hyundai, the undisputed scappage kings. They have sold more cars to retail customers in August than any other brand, overtaking Ford and Vauxhall.
The figures, which would have seemed inconceivable a few months ago, show that Hyundai’s overall sales for the month rose 323% compared to August last year to 3,737. It gives Hyundai a record overall market share of 5.6%.
The i10 city car has been the company’s biggest success, with 2,431 finding homes in August. This makes it Britain’s third bestselling car, relegating the Vauxhall Corsa to fourth place.
The end of the scrappage scheme may be the elephant in the room but as far as Hyundai are concerned the longer the scheme runs the better.
| POS | Manufacturer | August 2008 | August 2009 | Diff | % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1(1) |  | 884 | 3737 | 2853 | 323 |
| 2(2) |  | 941 | 2216 | 1275 | 135 |
| 3(4) |  | 1629 | 3026 | 1397 | 86 |
| 4(3) |  | 1522 | 2698 | 1176 | 77 |
| 5(-) |  | 687 | 1068 | 381 | 55 |
| 6(18) |  | 2973 | 3969 | 996 | 34 |
| 7(5) |  | 846 | 1103 | 257 | 30 |
| 8(8) |  | 1234 | 1540 | 306 | 25 |
| 9(12) |  | 9199 | 10754 | 1555 | 17 |
| 10(16) |  | 3154 | 3663 | 509 | 16 |
| 11(13) |  | 3022 | 3486 | 464 | 15 |
| 12(9) |  | 2073 | 2056 | (17) | (1) |
| 13(6) |  | 1006 | 918 | (88) | (9) |
| 14(15) |  | 3534 | 3187 | (347) | (10) |
| 15(11) |  | 3669 | 3296 | (373) | (10) |
| 16(10) |  | 6357 | 5585 | (772) | (12) |
| 17(20) |  | 1752 | 1449 | (303) | (17) |
| 18(7) |  | 1801 | 1203 | (598) | (33) |
| 19(19) |  | 2842 | 1869 | (973) | (34) |
| 20(17) |  | 9515 | 6020 | (3495) | (37) |
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