The Nissan Qashqai has emerged as the UK’s best-selling car of 2022, and the first British-built model to top the annual sales charts for 24 years.
Figures released today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) confirm that the Washington-built Qashqai – which was designed in Paddington, engineered in Cranfield and is built in Washington – was the nation’s best-selling car of the last 12 months.
A total of 42,704 new Qashqais were registered across the UK in 2022 and the figure for December alone stood at an impressive 3506, reported the SMMT. To celebrate the achievement, an exclusive gold-wrapped Qashqai was created in honour of the 7000 Nissan employees from around the UK that have contributed to its success.
Andrew Humberstone, Managing Director of Nissan Motor (GB) Limited, said: ‘This is a landmark moment for a landmark car and it’s great to see how the latest generation Qashqai has struck a chord with car buyers here in the UK. We’re absolutely thrilled to see this car’s increasing success over the last 16 years, and it’s a fitting tribute to the skills and talents of Nissan’s excellent design, engineering, production and sales teams all around the UK.’
Three generations of Qashqai have been on sale in the UK since it was first launched in 2007, all of which have regularly appeared among individual month’s best-seller lists. However, this is the first time it’s been the year’s best-selling car overall, and the first time a Nissan has topped the annual sales charts.
Is the Editor of the Parkers website and price guide, formerly editor of Classic Car Weekly, and launch editor/creator of Modern Classics magazine. Has contributed to various motoring titles including Octane, Practical Classics, Evo, Honest John, CAR magazine, Autocar, Pistonheads, Diesel Car, Practical Performance Car, Performance French Car, Car Mechanics, Jaguar World Monthly, MG Enthusiast, Modern MINI, Practical Classics, Fifth Gear Website, Radio 4, and the the Motoring Independent...
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Well done Nissan UK!
The numbers are incredibly low when compared to back in the Ford/BL/Vauxhall days when the top sellers would be well over 100k. It shows how nobody dominates the market any more.
Indeed. In the UK in 1979 and 1980, they shifted more than 190,000 Cortinas. Amazing really.
@ Keith, Ford had a much bigger market share and dominated the fleet market in 1980. These days Ford are down to about 8% of the market, same as Nissan, and people who have a company car are more likely to ask for a BMW 3 series than a Ford Focus.
Yet fair play to Nissan, whose factory employs 8000 people in an area which has lost all its traditional industries, produces cars people want to buy, and exports 250,000 cars every year. The latest Qashqai really looks good, far better than the boxy original, and is a deserved hit.
You just cant commpare today’s car market to the late 70’s – Its completely fragmented, the Japanese where still evolving in 1979, the Koreans where virtually non-existent, there where no Audi A4’s or Mercedes C Class and the only “crossover” was the Simca/Matra Rancho! – Families that would have bough a Cortina Estate now have something like a Qashqai, business drivers have a 3 series or a Tesla and the recently retired who always promised themselves a new Cortina one day will now buy a Kia.
Even in 2010 though, Ford shifted 103k Fiestas and 78k Focuses, while Vauxhall sold 81k Astra and 77k Corsas.
And in 2018 Ford sold 96k Fiestas, so the fall from grace (partially deliberate) has bene notable.
Yes partially deliberate – For reasons best known to themselves the US based multi-nationals pursued a business model based on market share at any cost happy to make next to nothing, nothing or even less than nothing as long as they topped the sales charts – or rather registration charts. They must have been making big profits elsewhere to fund that. Now Ford are moving to a profit based sustainable business model whilst Vauxhall are part of Stellantis, platform sharing and simply dont need to shift massive volumes to stay afloat. Different world that cant be compared to 10/20/30 years ago and certainly doesnt reflect the company “failing”
They didn’t have COVID or chip shortages then
Ford’s market share has also shrunk as it has pushed a lot of it’s chips that it had into the commercial market, with Ford now having Britain’s biggest commercial vehicle sales. This meant if you went into the Ford dealer, 1 you wouldn’t get a deal like the old days, and two you would have to wait quite a while for your car. Many walked away, straight into Nissan and Hyuandi/Kia dealers.
@daveh, I could add, a lot of Ford dealers had poor customer care, not surprising when Arnold Shark bought up a lot of dealerships in the noughties. Many local Ford owners decided to by pass this dealership after terrible experiences and either went 30 miles to the next Ford dealership, which was family owned, or changed makes completely. Not surprisingly, while Shark lives on locally as a used car supermarket, they have lost both their Ford and Citroen franchises.
There’s an Arnold Clark run Citroen dealership a couple of miles along the road from me. They’ve held the franchise for more than thirty years. Around seven or eight years ago they moved from their town centre site to a new, larger location on the edge of town. They must be doing something right!
@ standhill, there are Arnold Clark dealers who are better than others, but many do have a poor reputation like the one near me, which is now a used car supermarket. Interestingly the local Nissan dealer was a well liked Rover dealer until 2005 and took on the Nissan franchise in the last days of Rover, and has done so well, he had to build a new showroom.
Well done Nissan and all the work force and one Margaret Thatcher, without whom…
@ WG, Nissan came to Sunderland at the right time as the shipyards were in their death throes and the city had a pool of engineering workers who could adapt to making cars. Thatcher or not, this was a huge investment in the city and has created 8000 jobs and thousands of others in the local supply chain and Sunderland to most people now means Nissan rather than shipbuilding and coal.
I’m pleased it’s successful and providing jobs and income for those involved……….but all the reports I’ve read about the Qashqai seem to suggest it’s not particularly reliable. It tends to figure in the lower half of all surveys and reviews. Better than Land Rover products, but I’d still be wary of buying one.
That’ll be the Renault influence! Around here the Qashqai was the default choice of Mobility customers for years. They seem to have switched their alliance to the Kia Sportage now.
Allegiance, not alliance.
I’ve read several times that using Renault components has hit Nissan’s once excellent reliability record and of the Japanese badged cars, Nissans fare worst. I suppose people that buy a Qashqai most likely lease one, keep the car until the warranty runs out and change before any big problems can occur. Yet people keep buying/leasing them, so Nissan must be doing something right as the car is good looking and a good drive and made over here.
The main issue with them since the mk2 has been gearboxes. My former boss had a Mk1 with no problems, but the 2 Mk2 she had both had issues, one being a manual and the other an automatic, and they never really fixed them. She bought a Mk3 though!
My Mum is still using the Qashqai my Dad bought in 2012 & has had no major problems.
Similarly the Micra I had from 2017 to 2022 didn’t give any trouble, apart from the time someone managed to break one of the wing mirrors.
I’m currently running a new generation Qashqai Tekna+ 4WD Xtronic as a company car and I have to admit that it’s really an excellent car which suits my needs very well. Speaking of Qashqai reliability: we have a second QQ in our household, a 2011 2.0 dCi 4WD Automatic which is approaching 100’000 miles and the car is performing flawlessly, never broke down.
My friend has a year 2009 Qashqai+2 Visia 2 litre (done 80K+ miles). Apart from servicing and some minor repairs at MOT time, it serves him well. He expected to change it by now but due to its reliability is keeping it a while longer.
Seems that Nissan has just committed to building the next generation Qashqai (and the Juke?)in Sunderland.
Which is good news.