Premium brands were the main heroes of the second quarter of 2016, helping to counter a decline in mainstream brand sales and keep the overall market buoyant.

The motor retail industry* achieved 647,966 new car registrations in Q2 2016, which was 6,235 more than Q2 2015. That came despite the UK’s biggest three brands – Ford, Vauxhall and Volkswagen – losing almost 22,000 registrations between them.

The top performer for growth in Q2 was Mercedes-Benz. Its registrations rose by 6,872 units year-on-year to, 41,364.

Close behind was BMW, with a 4,776 rise in new car orders to a 45,115 Q2 total. Other premium brands that achieved significant volume growth included Jaguar (up 2,987 to 7,917), Land Rover (up 2,882 to 18,441), Mini (up 1,442 to 17,785) and Audi (up 1,051 to 42,141).

The premium brands have been supported by fresh core products, such as Mercedes’ C-Class and Jaguar’s XE, plus strong incentives for new customers and for renewals.

A few mainstream brands were among Q2’s strong performers. Renault’s resurgence continues, up 4,364 registrations to 20,611. Honda had a strong Q2 too, up 2,251 units to 12,740, while Kia’s growth was similar at 2,198 units.

The fortunes were reversed for many of the major mainstream brands, however. Despite reports of considerable pre-registrations, Vauxhall’s Q2 registrations dropped 9,343 to 57,915 units, Volkswagen fell by 7,553 units, Ford declined by 5,051 registrations and Nissan’s new car demand fell by 2,437 units. And after particularly strong trading in Q2 2015, significant drops were also suffered by Seat (down 1,925 units) and Mitsubishi (down 1,261 units).

*Excluding the SMMT’s ‘other British’ and ‘other imports’ categories.