UK car sales - year to date - top ten risers and fallers

UK car registrations January to July 2013: Dacia, Mitsubishi big risers.  MG having a disastrous year 

The SMMT has released year-to-date UK car registration figures for 2013 and compared them with the same period last year.

NB: Where we mention sales take this with a pinch of salt as registrations and sales may differ slightly.  The figures released are all based on registrations

The top ten risers are

1. Dacia - sold 0 cars in 2012, as the brand hadn't been launched, and 8,297 in 2013 to date.  Not bad for a new brand. 
2. Mitsubishi - sold 5,431 cars to date in 2013, a 40.4% improvement over last year.  Outlander must be contributing to that increase
3. Suzuki - 18.859 sales in 2013, a 33.1% improvement over last year
4. Lotus - OK they've only sold 122 cars to date in 2013 but that's a 23.2% improvement over 2012
5. Jaguar - sold 9,813 cars in 2013, a 22.7% improvement. Arguably the F-type won't have made an impact yet
6. Abarth - sold 807 souped up Fiats in 2013, a 19.4% improvement
7. SEAT - sold 25,681 cars in 2013, a 19% improvement
8. Fiat - sold 34,033 cars in 2013, a 16.7% improvement
9. Skoda - sold 37,306 cars, a 15.5% improvement
10. Mercedes-Benz - sold 62,310 cars, a 14.5% improvement

The brands who lost sales compared to this time last year are:

1. MG - sold only 156 cars in 2013, a 71.8% reduction in sales.  The MG3 is desperately needed
2. Perodua - sold 165 cars, a 39.3% reduction over last year
3. Ssangyong - sold 322 cars, a 36.1% retraction
4. Alfa Romeo - sold 3,163 cars, a 32% reduction.  Alfa desperately need new models
5. Chrysler - sold 1.551 cars, a 32% reduction
6. Chevrolet - sold 7.456 cars, a 22.7% reduction
7. Infiniti - sold 266 cars, a 19.2% reduction
8. Jeep - sold 1,091 cars/SUvs, a 16.6% reduction
9. Subaru - sold 1,187 cars, a 13% reduction.  Subaru finally have more BR-Zs which will help
10. Lexus - sold 4,806 cars, a 9.9% reduction

Other notable stats from the SMMT figures are:

• Fuel mix - petrol cars continue to outgrow diesel.  There were 654,959 petrol cars sold and 653,033 diesel cars sold in 2013 to date. Last year the balance was 51.1% diesel to 47.5% petrol.  This year petrol cars account for 49.4% of sales whereas diesel account for 49.3%
• Electric - Plug-in cars account for 1,885 sales, a 70.7% increase in sales
• Alternative - Alternative fuelled cars sales were 17,859
• Fiesta is the best selling car - with 72,129 dales to date in 2013