Ford may have won the crown as the best-selling manufacturer in fleet during 2007, but the louder cheers will be coming from Vauxhall in Luton, thanks to a strong performance which saw rising sales while Ford’s dipped.

Ford ended 2007 with 205,860 sales in fleet, a drop of 0.6% on 2006’s performance.

But Vauxhall was very close behind, selling 205,479 vehicles in 2007 – an increase of 5.5%.

Much of Vauxhall’s growth came from strong performances from the Astra and Vectra, up by 10.5% and 11.8% respectively.

The Vectra figure is especially impressive since the model will be replaced by the all-new Insignia later this year.

Much of the Vectra’s continued success comes down to the “tax-buster” Exclusiv model which is targeted at end-user drivers. Elsewhere for Vauxhall, the Zafira was up by 1.3% and the Corsa by 7%.

The Ford Focus remained the top-selling fleet car, despite being in run-out ready for a heavily revised model due next month.

Focus sales were down 12.7% in 2007, with Mondeo down 5.2% and Fiesta falling by just under 1%.

Of the rest of the top 10, Volkswagen saw the Golf increase sales by nearly 15% and Passat by almost 2%.

Finishing off the top 10 was the Renault Megane in seventh, down 8.5% on 2006.

In the manufacturers’ table, Volkswagen took third place (up 5.9%) with Peugeot and Renault in fourth and fifth, down by 2.4% and 9.5% respectively.

Audi edged out its arch rival BMW for sixth place, increasing sales this year by 28%. BMW in seventh was down by 4.1%.

Citroën saw a near-13% growth in registrations, while Honda with its glut of new products, including three-door Civics and the CR-V, saw sales rocket by 26%.

The new C-Class helped Mercedes-Benz into tenth spot with a 17.4% fleet sales increase.

  • Van sales in 2007 reached a record 337,741 units, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

    The figure is 3.2% up on 2006. SMMT chief executive Paul Everitt said: “Strong order books suggest buoyant CV registration figures for many months to come.”

    Top 10 fleet manufacturers
    Company 2007 % change
    1 Ford 205,860 -0.6
    2 Vauxhall 205,479 5.5
    3 Volkswagen 114,854 5.9
    4 Peugeot 73,552 -2.4
    5 Renault 66,692 -9.5
    6 Audi 57,706 28
    7 BMW 54,159 -4.1
    8 Citroen 40,572 12.8
    9 Honda 37,407 26.3
    10 Mercedes-Benz 36,518 17.4
    Top 10 fleet models
    Model 2007 % change
    1 Ford Focus 86,118 -12.7
    2 Vauxhall Astra 81,542 10.5
    3 Ford Fiesta 43,656 -0.8
    4 Volkswagen Golf 41,518 14.9
    5 Ford Mondeo 39,082 -5.2
    6 Vauxhall Corsa 39,071 7.1
    7 Renault Megane 39,021 -8.5
    8 Vauxhall Zafira 37,493 1.3
    9 Vauxhall Vectra 37,020 11.8
    10 Volkswagen Passat 29,574 1.9