Three months into what all manufacturers already expected to be a challenging 2025, and with the crucial ‘plate-change’ month of March behind us, it’s possible to analyse which brands are on the up, and which have work to do if they are enjoy a positive year.

Registration figures for vehicles over the first quarter of the year, produced by the Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) will be studied closely in board rooms looking for trends, particularly in light of President Trump’s tariffs bombshell which could yet up-end the entire automotive sector.

In terms of individual models topping the UK sales top ten is Ford’s Puma, with more than 11,000 registered in March and close to 15,000 year-to-date.

The blue oval has regained a dominance it once called its own in the days of the Ford Fiesta, which was very seldom dethroned from the top of the charts. And with the all-electric version of the Puma, the Gen-E (pictured above), only just going on sale, Ford may have that top spot nailed on for a while yet.

Ford executives will also likely be fairly comfortable with their overall figures – registrations in the UK mushroomed by 38% in March, 6.5% up on the equivalent point in 2024 with a total of 34,703 cars and earning a market share of a whisker under 6%.

However the brand with the second most popular car on the market did even better. The Kia Sportage has clocked up close to 12,900 registrations so far in 2025 but overall Kia’s 35,000-plus figure has earned the Korean brand a market share of just over 6%.

Kia is by no means the biggest player on the market, however. You won’t find a BMW in the new car top ten but the German executive brand has 6.13% of the market with 35,559 cars registered so far in 2025 – and that’s 3.3% down on the same period in 2024.

Yet all of them pale into insignificance against Volkswagen – with 53,156 registrations in the first three months of 2025 the German giant has more than 9% of the market, plus the fourth most popular car in its Golf.

And that’s just VW itself – sister brands Cupra and Skoda have both recorded positive performances so far in 2025, though Audi’s 4.79% share is down from 5.95% this time last year, with 27,806 registrations.

Among the other big winners so far in 2025 are Renault – up to 17,693 registrations and a share of 3.05% (2.69% in 2024), Volvo at 18,967 and 3.27% (2.5%) and one brand that has trod a very different path to most in terms of electrification, Mazda. The Japanese maker’s 10,996 registrations earns it 1.89% of the market but that compares to just 1.37% a year ago.

Meanwhile in the boardroom of Stellantis Group they will be analysing highly varied results. Peugeot has done well, up from 3.9 to just under 5% with 28,536 registrations, but sister brand Citroën has seen its share plummet from 1.72 to just 0.76% with a mere 4,389 registrations.

One other notable figure is that for JLR. While the figures for Jaguar were expected to plunge (from 1.2 to 0.3%) as the brand is not currently building new cars ahead of its relaunch as an EV maker, in the first three months of the year some 21,145 Land Rovers found homes, boosting the brand’s market share from 3.4 to 3.64% compared to first quarter 2024.

With Land Rover constantly being held up as the brand likely to suffer the most significant damage from the Trump tariff regime, and announcing over the weekend that it would pause shipments to America as a result of the tariff imposition, it will be interesting to see how its sales figures hold up over the rest of 2025.

While we are on the subject, sales of Tesla cars in the UK are actually up by 6%, to 12,474 in the first quarter and a 2.1% share – the much-trailed backlash against the actions of the brand’s head Elon Musk are seemingly yet to have a big effect in the UK.

Finally indicative of the challenges facing the long-established manufacturers are the performances of some of the new names on motor alleys, not least Chinese giant BYD. In March 2024 the brand had 0.23% of the UK market with 1278 registrations, this year that figure is 9271 cars and 1.6% – higher than Honda and again, Citroën.

As recently as December 2024 BYD’s share of the UK market was under 1% – the times they are a changing…