British Auto Market in 2025 stays on grow path. Full-year sales grew by 3.5%, with Audi falling out of the podium and into 5th while Ford took its place. Despite EVs shrinking by 11.7%, BYD kept expanding, moving closer to a spot among overall best sellers.
Economic Environment
In 2025, the BCC forecasts UK GDP growth of 1.4%, slightly higher than previously expected and largely driven by strong public spending rather than private-sector momentum. Sectoral growth in 2025 remains modest, with manufacturing expanding by 0.9%, construction by 1.1%, and services by 1.3%. Inflation and pay pressures ease somewhat this year, with wage growth at 4.3% and interest rates expected to stand at around 3.75% by year-end. Looking beyond 2025, overall GDP growth is expected to slow to 1.2% in 2026 before edging up to 1.5% in 2027, constrained by weak productivity and cautious fiscal tightening. Business investment is a key weakness, falling sharply to just 0.9% growth in 2026 before a limited recovery to 1.5% in 2027.
Export growth is also downgraded, reflecting global trade uncertainty, tariffs, and delayed progress on the UK-EU reset, leaving net trade a continued drag on growth. Inflation is forecast to keep easing, reaching 2.1% by late 2026 and the Bank of England’s 2% target by the end of 2027. Despite this, interest rate cuts are expected to be modest, with rates only falling to around 3.5% by the end of 2026. The labour market is projected to loosen further, with unemployment rising to 5.1% in 2026 and wage growth continuing to cool.
Automotive Industry Trend And Outlook
Despite economic challenges, the UK car market grew 3.5% in 2025, reaching 2,02 million units. After reporting negative performance in the first months of Q1, sales turned positive again towards the end and mantained the trend throughout Q2.
Brand-wise, Volkswagen was still the best selling brand with a 8.8% share (+7.4%).
BMW ranked 2nd with a share of 6.1% (-2%) while Ford -up 2 spots- ranked 3rd with a 5.9% share (+8.2%).
Kia ranked 4th (+1.1%) followed by Audi -down 2 spots- in 5th (-9.2%), and Hyundai -up 3 spots- in 6th (+1.4%).
Toyota ranked 7th (-11.2%) ahead of Nissan in 8th (-10.3%), Mercedes -down 3 spots- in 9th (-13.1%) and MG in 10th (+4.4%).
Looking at best-selling models, the leader was still the Ford Puma (+14.8%). The Kia Sportage followed in 2nd (+1.3%) while the Nissan Qashqai ranked in 3rd (-3%).
EV Market Trend and Outlook
BYD -up 15 spots- reported the most impressive performance among best-selling carmakers and became new segment’s leader (+748.3%). Tesla fell 1 spot into 2nd, down 11.6% while BMW also slipped 1 spot and fell into 3rd (-6.4%).
Medium-Term Market Trend
The decline of the British vehicle market has been ongoing for decades, driven by the relocation of manufacturing to lower-cost European countries, with Brexit further accelerating the downturn. After peaking at 2.6 million sales in 2016, the market began to shrink, hitting 1.6 million in 2020 due to the pandemic. Instead of recovering, sales remained weak, with a 0.7% increase in 2021 followed by a 1.6% decline in 2022.
Ongoing global challenges, including inflation, high fuel prices, political instability, supply chain disruptions, and the transition to EVs, have been amplified in the UK by Brexit’s economic impact. In 2023, the market rebounded by 17% to 1.9 million, with growth continuing into 2024 (+2.6%), despite policy uncertainty. However, over the past decade, sales have declined nearly 20% from 2014 levels.
EV adoption has grown over time but has seen fluctuations, including a slowdown in 2018-19. After peaking in 2023, growth stalled in 2024 as manufacturers struggled with the EV transition and broader market pressures. Reflecting this uncertainty, BMW delayed a £600 million investment in its Oxford plant for electric Mini production.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for the top 40 Brands and top 10 Manufacturers Groups and the top 10 models.
