Volkswagen has registered the most cars in the true fleet market during the first quarter of 2025, reflecting its performance as the UK’s most popular car brand overall.

The car brand grew its true fleet registrations by 44% year-on-year, during Q1, with its Tiguan and Golf models the most popular among company car drivers.

Volkswagen’s performance pushes it above BMW, which was the best-performing true fleet brand in 2024. BMW’s fleet registrations were down by 10% in the first quarter of 2025.

A total of 580,502 new cars were registered in Q1, representing an uplift of 6.4% when compared to same period last year.

True fleet sales increased by 12%, in Q1, while private car registrations saw an increase of 9.5%. Motability posted the largest decline with a decrease of 18.9%, or 20,000 cars.

The largest growth was achieved in the rental channel, where registrations were up by more than 50%.

Q1 2025 best-selling True Fleet brands:

Brand

YoY +/-

VW

44%

BMW

-10%

Tesla

23%

Kia

-3%

Audi

-38%

Toyota

21%

Nissan

-5%

Mercedes

-7%

Hyundai

48%

Skoda

25%

Tesla continues to perform strongly in true fleet, despite recent concerns that Elon Musk’s political activities were harming sales. In the first quarter, Tesla increased its true fleet registrations by 23%. Its best-selling Model Y is also being replaced imminently.

Audi saw the most drastic drop among the largest volume fleet brands, with a decline of 38% in true fleet sales during the first quarter or 2025. By contrast, Hyundai enjoyed a 48% improvement in true fleet sales, while Skoda saw a jump of 25%.

The true fleet channel continues to drive the largest volume of electric car registrations. In Q1, 53% of all electric car registrations came from the channel, while only 23% of electric cars were registered to private buyers.

Internal combustion engine (ICE) cars remain the most popular, however. The majority (46%) of company cars registered during Q1 were powered by an ICE. Electric cars account for 38% of true fleet registrations, while plug-in hybrids (PHEV) make up the remaining 15%.

The Tesla Model Y remained the UK's most popular company car in Q1, followed by the VW Tiguan. The Audi A3, BMW 1 Series and MG 4 all dropped out of the top 10 list when compared to Q1 2024's sales figures.

Q1 2025 True Fleet best-sellers:

  1. Tesla Model Y
  2. VW Tiguan
  3. Tesla Model 3
  4. VW Golf
  5. Kia Sportage
  6. Hyundai Tucson
  7. Nissan Juke
  8. BMW i4
  9. Nissan Qashqai
  10. Audi Q6 e-tron

 

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Author: Matt De Prez
Content editor - vehicles
matt.deprez@bauermedia.co.uk

Matt has been an automotive journalist for eight years. As senior staff writer he is responsible for the automotive content on Fleet News and also contributes to Automotive Management. Prior to this, Matt worked in the automotive industry for 10 years.

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