Ford has topped both the manufacturer and model registration lists for March, despite lower sales than this time last year.

Sales were down 1.2% for the Focus (pictured) and 3.8% for Ford overall.

Vauxhall saw only 0.3% fewer registrations, but this was not helped by Astra sales falling by 16.8%.

Vauxhall‘s overall stability was aided by continuing success for the Corsa and Zafira models. Registrations were up by 16.6% and 21.1% respectively.

Overall fleet sales were up 2.6% for March at 194,575 and 0.8% up for the year at 329,084.

Elsewhere in the list, Honda has plenty to celebrate, with an overall jump of 73.2%. This is due largely to 74.1% increase in Civic numbers, up from 2691 to 4684 this year.

Top 10 manufacturers – March
Position Manufacturer ’08 ’07 % change
1 Ford 30,819 32,049 -3.8
2 Vauxhall 29,306 29,398 -0.3
3 Volkswagen 15,313 16,548 -7.5
4 Peugeot 11,720 11,392 2.9
5 Audi 10,275 10,408 -1.3
6 Honda 9759 5633 73.2
7 Renault 9054 11,498 -21.3
8 BMW 9046 10,125 -10.7
9 Nissan 8636 4634 86.4
10 Mercedes 7702 6270 22.8

Top 10 models – March
Position Model ’08 ’07 % change
1 Focus 11,675 11,815 -1.2
2 Astra 10,110 12,158 -16.8
3 Golf 6415 6279 2.2
4 Corsa 6156 5280 16.6
5 Mondeo 5783 7133 -18.9
6 Zafira 5702 4707 21.1
7 Fiesta 5466 6652 -17.8
8 Vectra 5306 5072 4.6
9 Civic 4684 2691 74.1
10 207 4225 3302 28.0