The Ford Puma was the UK's best-selling new car in August 2026 with 2,795 registrations, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT, 4 September 2026). Behind it, four of the next five places went to Chinese-owned brands, in a month when the whole market rose 13.7% to 94,236 cars.
UK top 10 cars, August 2026
1. Ford Puma 2,795. 2. Jaecoo 7 2,022. 3. MG HS 1,785. 4. Jaecoo 5 1,670. 5. Kia Sportage 1,531. 6. Omoda 5 1,465. 7. Mini Cooper 1,372. 8. Ford Kuga 1,347. 9. Mercedes-Benz CLA 1,333. 10. Vauxhall Frontera 1,331.
Jaecoo and Omoda are Chery's brands and MG is owned by SAIC, so places two, three, four and six all went to Chinese groups. The top ten together registered 16,651 cars, 17.7% of the month.
Top battery-electric cars, August 2026
1. Tesla Model 3 1,296. 2. Tesla Model Y 884. 3. Vauxhall Frontera 875. 4. Jaecoo E5 855. 5. Mercedes-Benz CLA 821. 6. Skoda Enyaq 807. Battery-electric cars took 28,063 registrations and a 29.8% share of the month.
Year to date, the Puma leads by more than 5,000
From January to August the top five are the Ford Puma (35,968), Kia Sportage (30,564), Jaecoo 7 (28,571), Nissan Qashqai (27,528) and Vauxhall Corsa (21,892). The Jaecoo 7 in third place is the clearest single sign of how fast Chinese-owned brands have moved into the UK's mainstream in 2026.
September, the plate-change month, is the UK's biggest of the year and SMMT publishes it in early October. Open the live UK dashboard for the monthly bars and the BEV share trend.