It’s time once more for the Car Makers Premier League where each and every month we examine the top 20 manufacturers by number of units registered and see just how they look when compared with the previous month. At the end of the year who will be crowned champion? Who will drop out of the top 20 as the year unfolds and which high achievers will be promoted?
Carrying on with the season and Augusts’ statistics (based on the SMMT figures for UK new car registrations in August 2010) make pretty grim reading with the headline figure for the month being a 17.5% decrease to 55,305 units. In August 2009 the market had showed just the second increase in15 months with a 6% rise to 67,006 units but over a quarter of these registrations were down to the scrappage scheme. Overall the top 8 positions all outperformed the market this month.
The post-scrappage marketplace is still hurting some brands with Hyundai rooted to the bottom end of the table after so many months at the top and with Kia slipping back to 17th from 11th. The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, along with everyone else, will be looking for a good September although the SMMT predict that the market for new ‘60’ plate cars is expected to decline by around 10% in September, from 367,929 units last year.
This month Renault returns to the top with a 58% increase on August 2009 while last month’s leader and regular yo-yo manufacturer Land Rover disappear all together registering just 523 units in August.
August finds Mini, swapping with Land Rover, returning to the top 20, clawing back to position 13 after registering 918 units, an 18% drop on last year.
Good news this month for Volvo (up from 6th to 2nd), Mercedes-Benz (up from 4th to 3rd) Mazda (up from 8th to 6th) and Vauxhall (up from 14th to 7th). Volvo improved by 28% on last year and Mercedes by 22%. Mid-table mediocrity for VW, Citroen and Nissan as all three consolidate and remain in the same positions as last month.
All in all there is not a lot of good news around in the figures for August and the SMMT believe “the conditions will remain challenging through the rest of the year.”
| POS | Manufacturer | August 2009 | August 2010 | Diff | % |
| 1(2) |  | 1869 | 2959 | 1090 | 58 |
| 2(6) |  | 523 | 667 | 144 | 28 |
| 3(4) |  | 1540 | 1886 | 346 | 22 |
| 4(7) |  | 1203 | 1285 | 82 | 7 |
| 5(3) |  | 3663 | 3825 | 162 | 4 |
| 6(8) |  | 1449 | 1512 | 63 | 4 |
| 7(14) |  | 6020 | 6247 | 227 | 4 |
| 8(13) |  | 3486 | 3477 | (9) | 0 |
| 9(9) |  | 2698 | 2667 | (31) | (1) |
| 10(10) |  | 3187 | 3072 | (115) | (4) |
| 11(15) |  | 3296 | 3173 | (123) | (4) |
| 12(12) |  | 5585 | 4866 | (719) | (13) |
| 13(-) |  | 918 | 753 | (165) | (18) |
| 14(5) |  | 1103 | 890 | (213) | (19) |
| 15(19) |  | 2056 | 1432 | (624) | (30) |
| 16(17) |  | 10754 | 7245 | (3509) | (33) |
| 17(11) |  | 2216 | 1464 | (752) | (34) |
| 18(16) |  | 3969 | 2222 | (1747) | (44) |
| 19(20) |  | 3737 | 1503 | (2234) | (60) |
| 20(18) |  | 3026 | 1044 | (1982) | (65) |
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