In a country with a car industry, it has an unusual situation where imports typically account for 90% of registrations. Nissan designs and builds cars in the UK so as British of anything around. This goes over the head of many in the UK but for whatever reason, the local Qashqai is now top of the pops and comfortably so.
This is the first time since 1998 a UK assembled car has held that position. In that case it was the Ford Fiesta model made at the Dagenham facility. Ford later pulled out car production in the UK, although design work and engine building remained. With MG Rover being destroyed by BMW, it seemed there was never going to be a local product that could hold the top spot again.
Nissan stepped up to the plate with the ground breaking Qashqai entering the scene in 2007. It has taken a while for it to establish itself as the list to the left reveals. From 35th place in its debut year, it reached the Top 10 in 2010. From there, progress was steady and by 2017 was in 4th spot.
At that point, it stuttered as production seemed to be stifled until early 2022. From then on, it had been a strong rise until its present unassailable top ranking.
To the right is the November 2022 total registrations, colour coded by nation or region. Asian brands have four models on the list.
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