Company car registrations fell 7.1% in 2008 compared with 2007, ending the year at 1,109,963 sales.
While the fall was significant, it was not as bad as the total UK market which fell 11.3% to 2.1 million units.
Vauxhall took over from arch rival Ford as market leader despite a 6.1% drop in registrations. However, the Ford Focus remains fleet’s favourite car with more than 69,000 registered as company cars.
The some of the best performing brands in fleet came from the prestige end of the market with Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Honda and Volvo all up on 2007, although not exclusively prestige with Nissan, Kia and Chevrolet also doing well.
Among the biggest fallers were Renault (down 32.0%), Saab (down 23.8%) and Lexus (down 36.8%).
| Top 10 fleet brands in 2008 |
| Position |
Brand |
2007 |
2008 |
Variation |
| 1 |
Vauxhall |
205,479 |
193,035 |
-6.1% |
| 2 |
Ford |
205,860 |
188,017 |
-8.7% |
| 3 |
Volkswagen |
114,855 |
103,318 |
-10.0% |
| 4 |
Peugeot |
73,552 |
64,417 |
-12.4% |
| 5 |
Audi |
57,706 |
59,942 |
3.9% |
| 6 |
BMW |
54,159 |
56,790 |
4.9% |
| 7 |
Toyota |
50,347 |
45,579 |
-9.5% |
| 8 |
Renault |
66,692 |
45,323 |
-32.0% |
| 9 |
Honda |
37,407 |
39,150 |
4.7% |
| 10 |
Nissan |
33,868 |
38,399 |
13.4% |
|
| Top 10 fleet cars in 2008 |
| Position |
Car |
2007 |
2008 |
Variation |
| 1 |
Ford Focus |
79,408 |
69,560 |
-12.4% |
| 2 |
Vauxhall Astra |
79,370 |
63,862 |
-19.5% |
| 3 |
Vauxhall Corsa |
39,071 |
47,119 |
20.6% |
| 4 |
VW Golf |
41,519 |
42,639 |
2.7% |
| 5 |
Ford Mondeo |
39,082 |
37,811 |
-3.3% |
| 6 |
Vauxhall Zafira |
37,493 |
36,560 |
-2.5% |
| 7 |
Ford Fiesta |
43,656 |
34,479 |
-21.0% |
| 8 |
Vauxhall Vectra |
37,020 |
32,794 |
-11.4% |
| 9 |
VW Passat |
29,574 |
24,479 |
-17.2% |
| 10 |
Peugeot 207 |
26,497 |
23,539 |
-11.2% |
|
