Peter Vosper: Is brand loyalty a thing of the past?

There have been some major changes in the sales charts over the past ten years with a number of events contributing to the rise and fall of different brands with new names appearing in both the top and bottom half.

New companies have been formed such as Stellantis, who were formed from Peugeot and Citroen, have acquired Vauxhall from General Motors and FCA from Chrysler, which was an amalgamation of Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Dodge.

Stellantis is the fifth largest car manufacturer in the world and are intending to appoint a new chief executive by the end of June, to replace Carlos Tavares who left at the end of last year. Stellantis have around 11% of the British market

The Volkswagen Group, which as well as the Volkswagen brand, includes Audi, Skoda, Cupra and Seat have over 20% of the British market. BMW, who also own Mini, have about 8% and the Koreans, Kia and Hyundai have 6% and 4.5% respectively. Nissan, Mercedes, Toyota and MG are all over 4%, along with the Peugeot and Vauxhall brands mentioned above. 

Ford, who dominated the market for several decades with famous names like Cortina, Escort, Mondeo, Focus and Fiesta, have fallen to just under 6% but still have the best- selling car with Puma. The dropping of the Fiesta, Britain’s best- selling car for most of the century, is responsible for Ford’s lower share but the Transit dominates the light commercial vehicle market and has done so consistently since its launch almost 60 years ago.

Therefore, whereas Britain has no dominant brand, the Germans and French are very different. In 2024 German brands took over 50% of the market and in France French brands over 46% of the market, far greater than their shares in the UK and across the rest of Europe. This shows a strong desire to support local manufacturers and the “local brand”. The Chinese are finding it more difficult to succeed in these markets and with tariffs are likely to continue to do so.

In Britain we have Jaguar/Land Rover, Nissan, some Honda and Renault and some smaller specialist brands such as Aston Martin, Lotus and Morgan. This is why it is likely that more Chinese brands will arrive in Britain and will have a good chance of success, as they are ahead on technology and very price competitive.

BYD and Omada and Jacoo will be followed by Chery, one of China’s largest exporters and Changan, who have joint ventures with Ford and Mazda. Both Chery and Changan have multiple brands covering most sections of the market and the actions of the USA on tariffs is another reason why the British market is attractive to them.

With some manufacturers reducing the number of dealers representing their products the Chinese will find it relatively easy to recruit established businesses to handle their product. More choice for motorists in the long run.