Best-selling cars 2025: the year’s 10 most popular models

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9. Volvo XC40 – 10,612

Volvo XC40 - main image

Volvo XC40 - main image

It’s no longer the youngest member of the Swedish brand’s line-up, but the Volvo XC40 is clearly still a winner in terms of pure buyer appeal. This upmarket small SUV faces no shortage of competitors, but the combination of ride and interior comfort, a suite of safety kit and a healthy dose of family-friendly practicality is clearly helping to keep this ageing Volvo near the head of the pack (at least for now).

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10. Hyundai Tucson – 10,496

New Hyundai Tucson hybrid - front tracking

New Hyundai Tucson hybrid - front tracking

The Hyundai Tucson is a serial winner at the Auto Express New Car Awards and it appears to have impressed plenty of buyers so far in 2025 as well. Not only does it have striking looks, intuitive on-board tech and a premium-feeling cabin which wouldn’t be out of place on more expensive and high-end models, the Tuscon also recently had a mid-life refresh to help keep it up to speed with its rivals.

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Sales vs registrations: inside the numbers

There’s an important distinction to be made where the UK’s monthly and annual ‘car sales’ numbers are concerned. Namely, that they don’t actually count the number of cars sold in the sense that many people might expect. The numbers provided by the SMMT are for car ‘registrations’ rather than being sales figures.

When customers buy a new car, it is registered before it can be driven on the road, but cars are also registered by manufacturers and dealers before they have a customer to go to. This practice of processing pre-registered cars is done for various reasons, but often the goal is to move stock through the supply chain, avoiding bottlenecks or to hit targets. It means that a significant proportion of the cars in the ‘sales’ figures could be pre-registered, and estimates of how many range between 10 and 20 per cent.

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