UK car sales: Brits and Germans strong, French and Italians in trouble

The UK new sales figures show that Ford has increased its lead, Jaguar Land Rover is doing well, but Renault and Alfa Romeo are in danger of falling off the bottom of the table.

Ford is currently running at 14.2% year-to-date, compared to Vauxhall in second place at 11.0%. Land Rover is up 31% so far this year, and is now bigger than either Fiat or Renault. Talking of Renault, its sales have fallen another 47% to a market share of just 1.9% - that must be its lowest UK figure since the 1960s. The new Renault Clio has a herculean task on its hands. Still it could be worse – Alfa Romeo has dropped by 36% and now sells fewer than 1,000 cars a month in the UK for a market share of 0.4%.