Vauxhall UK Historical Market Share

While the Vauxhall name disappeared from NZ many years ago, I've had some contact with the Vauxhall brand. My parents had a Victor and then a Velox, both well made cars from what I can remember. In my first job, the company vans were CF Bedfords (Vauxhall's van division name) and they were a good van. 

When I visited the UK on my first overseas trip, I hired an oldish Vauxhall Chevette from a small garage and toured Old Blighty in it. It was a nice little car to drive. My last encounter with the brand was when I married my beloved, she came with the last model Viva and I have to say the least impressive of all the Vauxhall products I'd been involved with. Enough of the reminiscing. 

Going back to the 1960's (where my data starts), Vauxhall was some way behind BMC and Ford. It was close to the Rootes Group in size (it became Chrysler UK). It was a steady third in the UK through the 1980's and the consistently the second biggest brand in the 1990's. 

The graph below shows GM Vauxhall's vehicle market share from 2001 through to 2024. It includes light commercial vehicles. It was doing well initially, with the Corsa and Astra models leading the way and selling at almost identical levels. The Vectra had been a big selling model but now not so much. 

Then a decline kicked in from 2014. The Insignia was never that popular and the Astra was losing ground. The Corsa held up better but also suffered. GM was losing money on its once profitable European operation and in 2017 sold it to PSA.

People were switching to SUVs and crossovers and PSA lost no time in introducing two. The figures indicate they didn't sell that well and the decline in market share continued. By 2024, the Corsa (picture above) was the best selling, followed by the Mokka. 

Light commercials have become a much greater part of the overall sales, going from 7.5% of the brand's total in 2021 to just over 27% now. I presume that helps the bottom line but market share now being below 5% shows how far Vauxhall has fallen in terms of volume. It mirrors the fall that sister brand Opel is experiencing across Europe. 

Is this a problem? What it comes down to is profitability, and Stellantis has been able to leverage cost savings in Europe through shared platforms and the like. Vauxhall will likely remain a viable brand in the UK, but not chasing volume just for the sake of it.