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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?
We carry on the season with May’s statistics (based on the SMMT new car registration figures for May 2012) and they are up 7.9% on last May (which was 1.7% down on the previous year), with an increase of 11,857 units to 162,288 cars registered for the month.
A 7.9% rise year on year is encouraging and means the market is up 2.6% in the first 5 months of the year to 868,166 units leading to the SMMT revised full year forecast of 1.95 million units.
So let’s have a closer look at which manufacturers have improved and the ones which may need to go to their rooms and think about what they have (or haven’t) done.
This month the top 11 positions all outperformed the market and amazingly 16 manufacturers improved on May 2011 meaning only 4 of the top twenty turned in negative results (Volvo, Nissan, Mini and Renault). The top 3 of Land Rover (staying top with a 60.8% increase) Toyota (up to 2nd with 43%) and Kia (dropping to 3rd with 33.6%) stays the same (which hasn’t happened for a long while).
The biggest climber this month is Audi, up from 16th last month to 9th in May with a creditable 11.4% improvement. The biggest faller is BMW dropping 8 places from 6th to 14th with a mediocre 4.2% increase on May last year.
Biggest unit shifter in the top 20 this month was once again Ford with 23,255 cars registered for the month (18.1% of the top 20 total). Behind them are Vauxhall with 20,275 units (15.4% of the total) and in third VW with 15,511 (11.4%).
Renault are still firmly rooted to the bottom it would seem after another disastrous month which sees them recording a remarkably bad 37.3% drop in units registered (1,674 to be precise) troubling times indeed for the French manufacturer. Meanwhile Leaf peddlers Nissan continue their hideous slide down the table dropping from 17th to 18th with an embarrassing 14.8% decline.
The days of German manufacturer’s dominance of the top 10 seem well and truly over as only Mercedes in 7th and Audi in 9th still fly the Deutschlandfahne.
The SMMT are naturally positive with chief Executive Paul Everitt commenting “There is no doubt that vehicle manufacturers and their dealer networks are working hard to deliver value for money to motorists and the consistent climb in new car registrations during the first five months of the year suggests that confidence is returning, despite financial uncertainty in the eurozone.”
However with reports of forced registrations growing all may not be as it at first appears and some caution should be attached when taking the seemingly positive results at first value.
Just saying.
Car Makers Premier League May 2012
| POS | Manufacturer | May-11 | May-12 | Diff | % |
| 1(1) |  | 2,401 | 3,860 | 1,459 | 60.8 |
| 2(3) |  | 4,370 | 6,250 | 1,880 | 43.0 |
| 3(2) |  | 3,873 | 5,176 | 1,303 | 33.6 |
| 4(5) |  | 3,104 | 4,073 | 969 | 31.2 |
| 5(8) |  | 2,835 | 3,625 | 790 | 27.9 |
| 6(4) |  | 4,953 | 6,039 | 1,086 | 21.9 |
| 7(7) |  | 6,050 | 7,282 | 1,232 | 20.4 |
| 8(11) |  | 4,270 | 4,774 | 504 | 11.8 |
| 9(16) |  | 9,081 | 10,116 | 1,035 | 11.4 |
| 10(15) |  | 7,452 | 8,238 | 786 | 10.5 |
| 11(9) |  | 2,421 | 2,669 | 248 | 10.2 |
| 12(13) |  | 21,581 | 23,255 | 1,674 | 7.8 |
| 13(18) |  | 18,839 | 20,275 | 1,436 | 7.6 |
| 14(10) |  | 4,484 | 4,696 | 212 | 4.7 |
| 15(6) |  | 9,883 | 10,303 | 420 | 4.2 |
| 16(19) |  | 15,399 | 15,511 | 112 | 0.7 |
| 17(12) |  | 2,851 | 2,649 | (202) | (7.1) |
| 18(17) |  | 7,892 | 6,722 | (1,170) | (14.8) |
| 19(14) |  | 4,262 | 3,576 | (686) | (16.1) |
| 20(20) |  | 4,488 | 2,814 | (1,674) | (37.3) |
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