The best-selling new vehicles of 2024: Is yours among the many 10 hottest fashions?

The top 10 best-selling new cars of 2024 have been confirmed by official industry figures – and it’s a Ford model that has topped the charts yet again… but only just.

The stats show that the new car market recorded its second successive year of growth with 1.95 million new passenger vehicles entering the road.

While this is an increase of 2.6 per cent on 2023 volumes it is still well short of pre-Covid numbers as the trade body warned that consumer appetite remains ‘very, very weak’ in the face of economic uncertainty and the accelerating switch to electric vehicles.

Registrations data collated by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) lists the top models by sales figures in Britain last year.

SUVs have overtaken superminis as the most popular class of vehicle, which is reflected in a best-sellers list dominated by jacked-up models; among the eight SUVs to feature are two British-built crossovers.

The data also reveals the brands that were most popular in the UK in 2024 as well as the 10 electric vehicles (EVs) registered in greatest volumes throughout the calendar year.

Here’s the rundown of the 10 most-bought new cars. Does your motor make the list?

10. VW Polo – 28,981 sold

Price: from £21,210

Volkswagen’s smallest car – the Polo – just scraped into the top 10 table of best-selling models for 2024.

It represents the major shift change in consumer appetite for new motors as demand – and availability – of smaller cars declines.

As such, the Polo is the only conventional hatchback supermini to make the countdown of most-bought new passenger vehicles last year, which will come as a huge surprise to many given the dominance of motors like the Ford Fiesta and Vauxhall Corsa over the last three decades.

Instead, it is SUVs that were registered in highest numbers across all vehicle classes in 2024, with buyers opting for larger models with a greater sense of security and safety as well as the higher driving position.

Starting from £21,210, the Polo is not the cheapest supermini on sale, but its combination of classy cabin, strong engines and desirable VW badge has made it the UK’s most popular choice in the segment with 29,981 registrations last year. 

9. Volvo XC40 – 30,202 sold

Price: from £35,310 

Volvo’s award-winning XC40 amassed 30,202 registrations last year, which is good enough to sneak into ninth spot in the best-sellers list.

Since arriving on the market in 2018, the Swedish brand’s first compact SUV has been a real force. 

Having picked up a stash of motoring gongs, it has successfully turned widespread industry praise into significant sales. Today, it is by far the company’s most popular model among Britons. 

Almost half (46 per cent) of Volvos entering UK roads last year were XC40s, the SMMT’s records show.

A combination of chunky – but stylish – looks, loads of comfort, a contemporary cabin and high degree of safety [as you’d expect from a Volvo] has put this luxury 4X4 among the array of mainstream SUVs tallying up the largest sales figures. 

8. MG HS – 30,207 sold

Price: from £24,995 

The MG HS is officially the most popular budget-friendly SUV on the market and the best-selling Chinese model in Britain. 

It shows the huge rise of the brand in recent years, which has seen the maker break into the top 10 list of most popular manufacturers (see full list above) with a total of 81,536 registrations – that’s more than Vauxhall, Skoda, Peugeot, Volvo, Land Rover, Renault, Tesla and Mini, to name just a few legacy makers it has overtaken. 

The sub-£25,000 HS was its biggest success, selling in high enough numbers to take eighth spot in the model chart for 2024. However, it only just pipped the Volvo XC40 to the post, with 30,207 registrations beating its Swedish rival by a mere five cars. 

Helping to push it over the line was the arrival of an all-new version late in the year, which brought sleeker looks and even more space.

While it did come with a nominal price increase over the previous generation (around £1,000 for entry versions), the new HS is bigger, has a comprehensively overhauled cabin and the engine options also thoroughly updated, including a new plug-in hybrid drivetrain.

7. Hyundai Tucson – 32,174 sold

Price: from £32,400

The latest-generation Hyundai Tucson is a quality mid-size SUV. As such, it has grown in popularity in recent years to secure its place in the hearts of the nation’s family-car buyers.

It’s the sister model to the Kia Sportage (which we will get to soon) and epitomises the rise of Korean brands in recent years thanks to a wave of competitively-priced – and quality – vehicles.

This Mk4 Tucson was unveiled in 2020 and comes with a unique look that might not be to all tastes – especially the ‘face’ of the car, with its enormous grille that incorporates the headlight clusters.

Sold with a choice of hybrid – and plug-in hybrid – engines, lots of specification as standard and a tech-rammed interior, we’re not surprised to see it in this list with 32,164 registrations in 2024. 

However, year-on-year sales were down 7 per cent, with 2,305 fewer registrations than 2023 (34,469), which has seen it drop one place in the top 10 order. Still, one in every three Hyundai’s bought by Britons last year were Tucsons.

6. Volkswagen Golf – 32,370 sold

Price: from £27,760 

Having sensationally dropped out of the top 10 best sellers in 2023 for the first time in decades, the Golf is back in the list – and surged to sixth spot overall to help Volkswagen retain its crown as the nation’s most popular car brand.

With 32,370 registrations in 2024, the Golf cemented its position as Britain’s favourite family hatchback, having eclipsed its Audi sibling, the A3, to reclaim its mantle.

The current Mk8 Golf first arrived back in 2020. And while it ticked many boxes for customers it also had major flaws that put plenty of consumers off purchasing one.

The facelifted Golf ‘Mk8.5’ arrived last year and addresses this issue by rectifying the clunky infotainment setup and over-reliance on voice controls by reintroducing buttons to the dashboard for users to make adjustments on the move with improved ease.

The line-up is available with a choice of petrol, diesel, hybrid and plug-in hybrid drivetrains as well as six trim levels and a choice of manual or automatic gearboxes. With a GTI version too, there’s pretty much a Golf for everyone.

While there had been talk this will be the last Golf, VW has since said the nameplate will continue when it shifts to a new electric platform once the Mk8.5 is discontinued.

A staggering 2.3million Golf have been sold in the UK since the Mk1 arrived in 1974.

5. Tesla Model Y – 32,862 sold

Price: from £46,990

Tesla’s Model Y held onto its title as Britain’s most popular electric vehicle, but sales have fallen compared to 2023.

With 32,863 registrations last year, UK sales were down almost 9 per cent from the 35,899 sold in 2023. And a sizable chunk of these ‘sales’ were counted in December as a new shipment of the electric SUVs – and Tesla Model 3s – arrived in the country and registered before the year end.

Data supplied by the SMMT shows that 8,645 Telsas were registered last month. While December is notoriously a quiet month for car sales, 17 per cent of the US brand’s full-year registrations came last month. 

Despite the Model 3 being cheaper, the Y represents two thirds of all Teslas entering the road last year, with company car drivers snapping them up with the aid of salary sacrifice schemes to take advantage of low benefit in kind taxation on EVs.

Last year, the Model Y became the first electric vehicle to be crowned Europe’s best-selling new motor across all fuel types and the World’s most-bought new car in 2023. In the UK, it is the fifth most popular vehicle – as it was last year.

The Model Y currently costs from between £46,990 and £59,990, with official ranges of 319 to 373 miles depending on the variant chosen.

4. Nissan Juke – 34,456 sold

Price: from £23,500

Nissan’s Juke has leapfrogged up the order of Britain’s most popular cars, rising from eighth position in 2023 to fourth overall last year.

Showrooms sold 34,456 examples in 2024, which is up on the 31,745 registered the year previous.

This is partly thanks to an extensive upgrade as part of its mid-life facelift last summer that was intended to steal a march on Ford’s volume-selling Puma.

The second-generation Juke, which has been on sale since 2019 and is built at the Japanese company’s Sunderland factory, has been updated with a new interior and bigger touchscreen, more technology and driver assistance systems – and what Nissan says is a big step-up in quality.

But it came at a price, as the move upmarket pushed entry prices some £900 higher to £23,500 for the small crossover car.

Since the original Juke hit the market in 2010, it’s been a success story, especially for Britain. Designed at the company’s centre in the heart of London, developed at its research department in Cranfield, Bedfordshire, and built at Nissan Sunderland, the Juke’s DNA is very much in the heartland of England.

Some 1.3million examples have been sold globally in the last decade and a half, with Juke accounting for a third of Nissan sales in the UK last term.

3. Nissan Qashqai – 42,418 sold

Price: from £30,135

The nation’s favourite car in 2022 has dropped back in the order for 2024 – and has lost its 17-year title as Britain’s most-bought family SUV.

The Qashqai totalled 42,418 sales last year, which is almost the same volume in the previous calendar year (42,321).

It is still by far Nissan’s most popular car, accounting for two in five of the Japanese brand’s sales in the UK last term.

While it might have lost its crown as the UK’s best-selling family SUV, it has retained its moniker as the most popular domestically built motor, with production of Qashqai located in Sunderland, where the Juke and Leaf EV are also manufactured.

A mid-life facelift last year brought a bolder exterior design, improved quality interior, revised safety assists and better connectivity thanks to built-in Google. Though it has pushed entry prices marginally higher to just over £30k. 

Its recent introduction of an ‘e-Power’ hybrid Qashqai has helped keep it at the sharp end of the sales league table.

2. Kia Sportage – 47,163 sold

Price: from £29,890

While the Hyundai Tucson amassed an impressive sales haul to place seventh in this list, its sister model has done even better.

The Kia Sportage – which shares a platform with the Tucson – has sold in such big numbers in 2024 that it has taken second spot in the popularity chart. 

It also officially gazumped the Nissan Qashqai to become Britain’s most popular family-size compact SUV. That’s no small feat for the Korean brand; Qashqai has been the nation’s top choice in the segment since the first-generation model arrived in 2007. 

The fifth iteration of Sportage on sale now is proof of how far the manufacturer has come in recent years, with the SUV packed with kit and offering a refined ride. It emerged in 2022 and jumped to fifth in the standings that year, rising to fourth in 2023 before being a close runner-up last year, missing out on top spot by just 1,000 units.

Like the Tucson, it has distinctive styling – especially its boomerang-shaped headlights. Sold with a choice of petrol, conventional hybrid and plug-in hybrid drivetrains, there’s plenty of choice for customers, too.

The 47,163 that entered the road last year was over 10,000 (31 per cent) more than in 2023 (36,135) and represents 42 per cent of all Kia sales over the 12-month period.

1. Ford Puma – 48,340 sold

Price: from £26,350 

Ford has done it yet again and taken the top spot in the UK charts with a second consecutive year with the Puma outselling all rivals.

Historically, Ford has been a dominant force in the sales charts. In the 54 years that registrations have officially been tracked, a model with the blue oval badge has topped the charts an astonishing 51 times. 

Its stretch of having the number one car in the UK dates from the Cortina in 1972 to the Fiesta in 2020. Vauxhall’s Corsa (2021) and Nissan’s Qashqai (2022) knocked Ford off its perch before the Puma reclaimed the crown in 2023.

With the Fiesta – Britain’s most-owned car – now resigned to the history books after Ford culled production in the summer of 2023, the Puma has taken over the mantle as the company’s major seller.

Once again, it is the nation’s favoured super-compact SUV, outperforming the likes of the Nissan Juke, Skoda Kamiq Vauxhall Mokka.

The 48,340 sold in 2024 is slightly down on the numbers shifted by Ford dealers the year previous (49,591). However, more than two in five (43 per cent) of all new Fords entering the road last year were Pumas, the numbers show.

Customers have been drawn to its stylish looks, engaging handling and boost to practicality and elevated driving position over a conventional hatchback.

Its appeal will broaden in 2025 as an all-electric version will arrive as part of the Puma’s mid-life facelift, which could further boost demand this year with car maker’s pushing to meet the Government’s EV sales target of more than a quarter (28 per cent) of registrations being zero emission models. 

Prices for the entry petrol versions start from £26,350 while the Puma Gen-E will be available from £29,995.