The 10 most searched cars on auto Trader for 2016 include 7 German brands, two Fords and a Vauxhall.

Auto Trader has announced the most searched for cars of the year, revealing the 10 make and models most popular amongst the circa 60 million monthly visitors to the marketplace in 2016, which currently has almost half a million cars listed for sale on the site.  

The BMW 3 series was the most searched for car on Auto Trader in 2016, a title the vehicle has held on the UK’s largest automotive marketplace for a sixth consecutive year. 

Beating two of its BMW stablemates in both the 1 Series and 5 Series, the 3 Series topped a list that was dominated by premium vehicles in 2016, which made up 75% of the Top 10 list.

Jon Quirk, Auto Trader’s Editor-in-Chief, said, “The BMW 3 series continues its dominance as the most searched for car on Auto Trader, while the overall popularity for premium vehicles continues. This is due, in part, to an expansive new car portfolio and the availability of low rate finance. Small family cars have been big news in 2016 too, as they can provide superb levels of in-car technology, safety and refinement in more compact, more efficient and cost effective packages.”

The rise in UK car buyers on the lookout for more premium models led to a significant rise in searches for the 3 Series rival, the Mercedes-Benz C Class, which rose two places in the Top 10 search list in 2016 to take the Bronze spot from the Ford Focus.

The Volkswagen Golf also continues to be a highly desirable for UK car buyers in 2016, as it becomes the second most searched for car on Auto Trader for the eighth year running.

Making a prediction for 2017, Quirk said, “2017 is going to be the year of the small car. The small car league table will see a host of new competition - the Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Polo, Citroen C3 and Seat Ibiza will all have brand new models in 2017, not to mention the totally reinvented Nissan Micra.”

Looking at how some of next year’s new car launches might impact search behaviour, Quirk added, “We're also expecting to see an increase in the number of searches for electric vehicles, with refreshed models like the Renault Zoe promising better range and the release of the Tesla Model 3 – the Ford Focus-sized electric car with a 200+ mile range costing £30k – which should bring mass appeal for UK car buyers.”

Top 10 most searched for cars on Auto Trader in 2016

Rank	Make	Model
1	BMW	3 SERIES
2	VOLKSWAGEN	GOLF
3	MERCEDES-BENZ	C CLASS
4	FORD	FOCUS
5	BMW	5 SERIES
6	BMW	1 SERIES
7	FORD	FIESTA
8	AUDI	A3
9	MERCEDES-BENZ	E CLASS
10	VAUXHALL	ASTRA

BMW tops the nation’s fastest sellers in August with its compact 1 Series Hatchback, SUV's dominate though.

• BMW tops the nation’s fastest sellers in August with its compact 1 Series Hatchback
• Toyota AYGO city car ranks second with its fourth appearance in the top ten in 2016
• But it’s Crossovers that prove the big hit with buyers with five in the UK’s top ten

The BMW 1 Series was the fastest set of wheels off the UK’s forecourts in August.

The 2012 premium hatchback proved a big hit with buyers and in this petrol automatic guise took just an average of 19 days to sell.

Taking second spot is a regular visitor to the UK’s fastest selling cars, the Toyota AYGO. The 2014 model with petrol engine and automatic gearbox took 21 days to find a buyer and this is the fourth time this year the compact city car has made an appearance in the UK’s top ten quickest selling cars.

Meanwhile the Fiat 500L, the larger five-door version of the popular urban runaround, pops up for the second time in the nation’s rapid sellers to rank third. The diesel automatic version took 21 days from forecourt to buyer – the same time as the Toyota AYGO.

It’s Crossovers, however, that dominated the sales charts in August taking five of the top ten spots nationally and were the quickest sellers in seven of the UK’s regions.

Nissan’s Qashqai continues to prove popular as a used buy and makes frequent appearances in the UK’s and regional’s monthly fastest sellers. It’s the rarer seven-seat model, the Qashqai+2, that ranks as the fifth fastest selling car in the UK and takes first place in Yorkshire. The standard five-seat model found was changing hands quickest in the South West and ranked ninth nationally.

The SMMT new car registration data for August echoes the UK top ten fastest selling used cars as the Nissan Qashqai is the tenth most popular new car. What’s more, the new car registrations ranked the Ford Kuga as the ninth best-selling model in the UK. It’s a 2015 Kuga with petrol engine and manual gearbox that ranks as the tenth fastest seller in the country taking 25 days from landing at the showroom to finding a buyer.

Karolina Edwards-Smajda, Retailer and Consumer Products Director said: “Crossovers continue to be highly sought after by buyers as our fastest selling car data and the SMMT’s new car registration figures confirm. But as the UK’s top three fastest selling cars prove it’s not always easy to tell what type of car will always prove popular with consumers. Retailers who place data at the heart of their business will be able to glean insights as to what cars are desirable in their area and where to price them to the market to attract buyers, and these insights can supplement a retailer’s own expertise and knowledge.”

Karolina Edwards-Smajda continues: “With consumers all looking for something different it is difficult to tell which vehicles are particularly in demand in a given location at a given time. Employing data and a scientific approach means you will always know what cars to put on your forecourt and how to price them to attract buyers and sell cars quickly. A faster speed of sale means more profit per car and more sales overall, leading to more sales and more profit in a year.”

Rank*	Description	Average Days to Sell	Average Price Position	Average Retail Price
1	2012 BMW 1 Series Hatchback Petrol Automatic	19	100.10%	£12,999
2	2014 Toyota AYGO Hatchback Petrol Semi-Automatic	21	98.17%	£6,713
3	2013 Fiat 500L Hatchback Diesel Automatic	21	98.75%	£8,024
4	2013 Seat Altea XL MPV Diesel Automatic	22	97.65%	£8,094
5	2013 Nissan Qashqai+2 Hatchback Petrol Automatic	23	99.12%	£14,243
6	2009 Mazda Mazda6 Hatchback Diesel Manual	24	92.87%	£4,133
7	2013 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV Diesel Automatic	25	99.87%	£15,920
8	2014 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV Diesel Automatic	25	99.70%	£18,459
9	2014 Nissan Qashqai Hatchback Diesel Automatic	25	98.98%	£17,513
10	2015 Ford Kuga SUV Petrol Manual	25	99.44%	£17,201

Users of i-Control took an average time to sell of 28 days versus a market average of 63 days in August. This means those dealerships using our data insights tool now outperform the market by over 55%.

i-Control tracks live market movements, recommends what stock to buy, where to find it, how much to pay for it, and how much to sell it for taking into account regional differences in desirability – and is proven to improve stock turn, as we’ve seen, by nearly 60%.

Using a combination of daily guide prices from over 4,500 dealer websites, the 500,000+ ads on autotrader.co.ukand price data from all major auctions, fleet & lease companies and manufacturers, i-Control provides accurate valuations ensuring retailers’ stock is competitively priced from day one.

*Please note that ranking for fastest selling is based on days to sell and the vehicle count with those cars enjoying the fewest days to sell and the highest vehicle count being ranked highest.

Regional Fastest Sellers

Region	Make/Model	Days to sell
East of England	2015 Land Rover Range Rover Sport SUV Diesel Automatic	26
East Midlands	2015 Nissan Juke Hatchback Diesel Manual	22
London	2012 Ford Galaxy MPV Diesel Automatic	10
North East	2015 Nissan Note Hatchback Petrol Manual	22
North West	2015 Mercedes-Benz A Class Hatchback Diesel Automatic	21
Northern Ireland	2013 Volkswagen Golf Hatchback Diesel Manual	32
Scotland	2015 Hyundai ix35 Estate Diesel Manual	14
South	2013 BMW 3 Series Estate Diesel Automatic	25
South East	2013 Volkswagen Tiguan SUV Diesel Automatic	23
South West	2014 Nissan Qashqai Hatchback Diesel Manual	30
Wales	2015 Hyundai i30 Hatchback Diesel Manual	27
West Midlands	2015 Hyundai ix35 Estate Diesel Manual	23
Yorkshire	2013 Nissan Qashqai+2 Hatchback Diesel Manual	20

US SALES SEPTEMBER - BMW/MINI - steady increases, month over month 250,000 YTD sales.

• BMW brand up 4.0 percent, September record
• MINI brand sales up 4.6 percent
• BMW Motorcycle sales increase 25.7 percent, September record

Sales of BMW brand vehicles increased 4.0 percent in September for a total of 26,608 compared to 25,587 vehicles sold in September, 2014. Year-to-date, BMW brand sales are 249,956 vehicles, a 5.6 percent increase from the same period last year.

“There’s no doubt about the strength of the U.S. economy and that people continue to buy new cars as evidenced by the BMW record sales result in September,” said Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO, BMW of North America. 

“Going into the all-important fourth quarter, the all-new BMW 7 Series and X1 go on sale this month and our expanded production capacity here in the U.S. means greater availability of the very popular BMW Sports Activity Vehicles, especially the X3 and the X5.”  

In September, notable vehicle sales included the BMW 3 Series which increased 10.6 percent to 9,145 vehicles, the BMW X3 which increased 67.8 percent to 3,033 vehicles and the BMW 5 Series which increased from 1,407 to 4,059 vehicles, compared to September a year ago.

BMW Group Sales

In total, the BMW Group in the U.S. (BMW and MINI combined) reported September sales of 31,022 vehicles, an increase of 4.1 percent from the 29,806 vehicles sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, BMW Group sales are 294,930 vehicles, a 6.9 percent increase from the same period last year.

MINI Brand Sales

For September, MINI USA reports 4,414 automobiles sold, an increase of 4.6 percent from the 4,219 sold in the same month a year ago. Year-to-date, MINI USA sales are 44,974 vehicles, a 14.8 percent increase from the same period last year.

Table 1: New Vehicle Sales BMW of North America, LLC , September 2015

	Sept. 2015	Sept. 2014	%	YTD Sept. 2015	YTD Sept. 2014	%
BMW brand	26,608	25,587	4.0	249,956	236,591	5.6
BMW passenger cars	20,242	18,981	6.6	179,075	172,331	3.9
BMW light trucks	6,366	6,606	-3.6	70,881	64,260	10.3
MINI brand	4,414	4,219	4.6	44,974	39,188	14.8
TOTAL Group	31,022	29,806	4.1	294,930	275,779	6.9