Fleet registrations for September, the first month for the new ’58’ plate, ended down 16.1% at 158,345 units. This drop dragged the year-to-date fleet total down 3.3% to 912,724 units.

The biggest falls have been suffered, in the main, by the traditional market leaders. September saw Renault down more than 50% (and drop out of the top 10), Peugeot down nearly 30% and Ford fall 18%.

Vauxhall and VW were also down, but less than the market average.

Of the top 10 players Mercedes and Audi saw sales rise, but rival prestige brand BMW fell almost 20% in fleet.

Audi’s performance was due mainly to a 20% hike in A4 registrations.

Interestingly, Honda‘s fleet registrations for September dropped more than 20% due to poor Civic sales, despite the firm’s year-to-date figure remaining nearly 18% up.

Fiat was up 12.3% in the month, however, this was entirely due to the 500 which countered falls in Bravo and Punto fleet sales of 34% and 26% respectively.

Top 10 manufacturers September sales
  Brand 2008 2007 %var
1 Vauxhall 22,978 26,665 -13.8
2 Ford 22,969 28,116 -18.3
3 Volkswagen 14,729 16,304 -9.7
4 Audi 8837 8644 2.2
5 BMW 8749 10,918 -19.9
6 Peugeot 8481 12,037 -29.5
7 Toyota 8306 8707 -4.6
8 Mercedes 7884 7468 5.6
9 Nissan 7357 7380 -0.3
10 Honda 5643 7080 -20.3
Top 10 models in September
  Model 2008 2007 %var
1 Ford Focus 7673 9247 -17.0
2 Vauxhall Astra 7636 10,247 -25.5
3 VW Golf 6331 5983 5.8
4 Vauxhall Corsa 5936 4920 20.7
5 Ford Mondeo 5300 4969 6.7
6 Vauxhall Zafira 4060 4517 -10.1
7 Ford Fiesta 3996 7346 -45.6
8 Audi A4 3548 2951 20.2
9 Vauxhall Vectra 3468 4896 -29.2
10 Peugeot 207 3357 4791 -29.9
Top 10 manufacturers year-to-date sales
  brand 2008 2007 %var
1 Vauxhall 154,761 161,299 -4.1
2 Ford 152,032 165,589 -8.2
3 Volkswagen 82,980 88,385 -6.1
4 Peugeot 52,879 59,191 -10.7
5 Audi 49,485 47,324 4.6
6 BMW 45,516 41,515 9.6
7 Renault 39,262 52,060 -24.6
8 Toyota 38,064 41,645 -8.6
9 Honda 34,356 29,197 17.7
10 Nissan 33,173 27,266 21.7