BMW 3 series proves popular as May’s fastest selling car

Data from Auto Trader, the UK’s largest marketplace for new and used cars, revealed the BMW 3 Series (petrol manual) was the UK’s fastest selling used car in May. It’s the first time a premium brand has topped the national fastest selling used car list since September 2016, when BMW stablemate the 1 Series prevailed as the nation’s fastest seller.

The Skoda Fabia and Ford Mondeo were both second fastest for leaving UK forecourts in May, taking just 16 days on average to sell. Both of these fastest-selling contenders were petrol automatics and registered in 2016. Following closely behind in third place was the 2016 Ford Kuga SUV petrol manual, which took just 17 days to sell.

Petrol fuel types dominated May’s fastest-selling national top ten leaving no room for diesels. The top ten list featured nine petrol cars in total and one electric hybrid, the 2013 Toyota Prius (automatic), which placed as the tenth fastest-selling car in May taking 20 days to leave the forecourt.

Mirroring similar results in April’s fastest selling data, the humble hatchback performs strongly again in May, taking up six spots in the National top ten and topping eight out of 11 regional fastest selling lists. For car brands, May proved to be a popular month for both Ford and Vauxhall, the two brands topped four regional fastest-selling tables each – revealing seven hatchback regional fastest sellers and one SUV, the 2016 Ford Kuga, which was fastest to leave the forecourt in the East Midlands last month.

Hitting targets will always be determined by how quickly a dealer can turn their stock around and using data is the key to speeding it up. Users of i-Control, Auto Trader‘s data management solution, took an average of just 30 days to sell a car in May, compared to a market average of 63 days – a 52% improvement in stock turn.

Karolina Edwards-Smajda, Auto Trader Retailer & Consumer Products Director, said: “The BMW 3 Series becoming the fastest selling used car for retailers in May proves that premium models with higher price tags can leave the forecourt as quickly as average used cars by following the same retail practices.”

“Matching the 14 average days to sell of April’s fastest selling car, the Toyota Prius, it’s clear that practices such as the effective use of data, pricing to the live retail market and stocking the cars desirable to your region are paramount to turning stock quicker, regardless of the car brand or premium price.”