--- title: TLA Market Insights | July 2026 --- - Capabilities Acquisition [Customer acquisition How we find in-market car buyers, qualify them and connect them to brands. Tracked from enquiry to sale. Find out more](https://tla.co/our-system?hsLang=en-gb) [Our network The consumer platforms we own and operate, engaging car buyers at every stage of their journey. Find out more](https://tla.co/our-network?hsLang=en-gb) [![Ford](https://tla.co/hubfs/ford-300x225-1.png) Case Study Ford UK A consistent pipeline of high-intent, in-market buyers grew vehicle sales 41% year on year. Find out more](https://tla.co/case-studies/ford?hsLang=en-gb) Market intelligence [Market insights UK new car buyer insights for all UK automotive brands. Updated every month, built from our own data. Find out more](https://tla.co/market-insights?hsLang=en-gb) [Client intelligence For clients Bespoke reports built around your questions, exclusive to TLA clients. Find out more](https://tla.co/client-intelligence?hsLang=en-gb) - [Partners](https://tla.co/our-partners?hsLang=en-gb) - Company [About TLA](https://tla.co/about?hsLang=en-gb) [Careers](https://tla.co/careers?hsLang=en-gb) [Charity work](https://tla.co/charity?hsLang=en-gb) - [News](https://tla.co/blog?hsLang=en-gb) - [Contact us](https://tla.co/contact?hsLang=en-gb) - [Client portal](https://tla.co/client-portal?hsLang=en-gb) ## Subscriber access Enter the email address you subscribed with to view the market insights. View report That email isn't on the list. Please check and try again. Not subscribed yet? [Request access](https://tla.co/market-insights?hsLang=en-gb) August 2026 Data # Who is in-market, and who is buying Explore the UK new car buyer market by group: who enquires, who goes on to buy, and how the fuel, body and price mix shifts along the way. Built from our own data. [01](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-1) [02](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-2) [03](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-3) [04](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-4) [05](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-5) [06](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-6) [07](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-7) [01 Who is in-market  ](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-1) [02 What are they buying](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-2) [03 How are they buying](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-3) [04 Where are the opportunities](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-4) [05 Where are they coming from](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-5) [06 When are they buying](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-6) [07 What can buyers afford](https://tla.co/market-insights/report#sec-7) Buyer segments The nine groups used throughout this report Affluent Established Families Wealthy households, including high earners in cities and large suburban family homes. Most own their home. Prosperous Rural Families High-income families living in rural areas, usually with larger homes. Almost all own their home. Comfortable Retirement Homeowners Retired or older working people who own their homes, ranging from wealthy rural households to modest pensioners. Mainstream Family Suburbs Working families on middle incomes, living in mortgaged homes in suburbs and small towns. Modest Older Independents Older single people and couples on average incomes, mostly settled homeowners. City Flat Singles Single people and couples living in urban flats, most of them renting. Stretched Family Renters Younger families on lower incomes, living in rented homes. Low-income Later Life Older households on low incomes, most of them renting. Students and Sharers Students and people early in their careers, living in shared or short-term accommodation. 01 ### Who is in-market UK new car buyers grouped into nine segments. Select a group in the treemap, or from the dropdown, to see how it behaves. Buyer groups by share Inside **Group 1** Fuel type Body style Price band #### [See how your data compares to the wider market We also produce bespoke reports that set your own data against the wider market, built from the same first-party data behind these insights. Explore bespoke reports](https://tla.co/client-intelligence?hsLang=en-gb) 02 ### What are they buying The fuel, body and price mix each group is choosing, and how that mix is shifting. Share of enquiries vs sales Enquiries New sales Index = sales ÷ enquiry share Mix shift — **Whole market** Fuel type Body style Price band Swipe the chart sideways to see the full mix. #### [Which of these groups are your buyers? Bespoke reports match your own enquiry and sale data to these groups, so you can see where you win and where you lose buyers along the way. Explore bespoke reports](https://tla.co/client-intelligence?hsLang=en-gb) Segment The best converting segment is **Comfortable Retirement Homeowners** at **40%** of sales, converting well above its enquiry share at **+8.9pp**. **Stretched Family Renters** converted furthest below (**-3.6pp**), the weakest of any segment. Body style **Hatchbacks** are still the largest body style at **37%** of sales, over-indexing against enquiries by **+3.0pp**, though it's **Compact SUVs** that performed highest over index against its enquiry share (**+6.4pp**). Price Purchases concentrate on **£30-40k** (**40%** of sales), which is also the best-converting band, over-indexing versus enquiries by **+5.1pp**. **£80k+** under-indexes the most (**-6.6pp**) against enquiries. Fuel **Petrol Hybrid** remains the most popular fuel type (**49%** of sales), and is also the best-converting, over-indexing versus its enquiry share by **+3.8pp**. **Electric** converted worst (**-2.6pp**). Based on the groups where we have matched lead-to-sale data. Fuel mixes combine hybrid sub-types: petrol mild, self-charging and plug-in hybrids are grouped as petrol hybrid, and diesel mild hybrid as diesel hybrid. Body, price and remaining fuel figures are per group as supplied. 03 ### How are they buying The purchase route buyers take, from outright cash to finance and leasing. Every bar totals 100%. Switch the view to break the split down by segment, body style, fuel type or price band. Purchase route by segment Segment Body style Fuel type Price band Swipe the chart sideways to see the full width. #### [How do your buyers pay? Bespoke reports break your own sales down by purchase route and group, so you can see where finance, leasing and outright buyers sit against the wider market. Explore bespoke reports](https://tla.co/client-intelligence?hsLang=en-gb) PCP = personal contract purchase, PCH = personal contract hire (personal lease), HP = hire purchase, BCH = business contract hire. When grouped, finance combines PCP and HP, and leasing combines PCH and BCH. 04 ### Where are the opportunities An opportunity map of every buyer group, plotting how strongly each over- or under-indexes as new car buyers against how much of our in-market enquiry demand they make up. #### What is the new car buyer index? The new car buyer index measures how strongly a group converts from enquiry to new car sale compared with the market average. **100 is the market average.** A score above 100 means the group over-indexes and converts more strongly than average; below 100 means it under-indexes. We plot it against each group's share of our in-market enquiries, so groups towards the top and right are the strongest new car opportunities. Opportunity map Invest & grow Optimise Niche opportunity Monitor #### [Where should you focus? Bespoke reports plot your own buyers on the same opportunity map, so you can see which groups to invest in and which stay niche for your brand. Explore bespoke reports](https://tla.co/client-intelligence?hsLang=en-gb) The new car buyer index is benchmarked against the market average (100). Share of in-market demand is each group's share of TLA enquiries. Groups sit in Invest & grow when they have both an above-average index and an above-average share of demand; all others are a Niche opportunity. Bubble size reflects share of in-market demand. 05 ### Where are they coming from Incremental buyers switching from another brand, loyal buyers returning, and buyers new to the market on the left, and how each splits across fuel, body and price. Click a loyalty status to isolate it, and switch the view by category. Loyalty flow by **fuel type** Incremental Loyal New to market Fuel type Body style Price band Swipe the chart sideways to follow every flow. #### [Who are you winning and keeping? Bespoke reports split your own enquiries into incremental, loyal and new-to-market buyers, so you can see where you are winning switchers and where you are defending your base. Explore bespoke reports](https://tla.co/client-intelligence?hsLang=en-gb) Incremental = buyers switching from another brand, Loyal = returning to the same brand, New to market = first-time or returning-to-market buyers. Percentages show the loyalty split within each category. Price-band flows are volume-weighted using the overall loyalty mix (Incremental 63.1%, Loyal 29.9%, New to market 7.0%); fuel and body categories are shown at equal width because the source gives the loyalty split within each category, not category volumes, so read those node widths as indicative. 06 ### When are they buying How enquiry activity moves through the year, indexed so that an average month reads 100. Monthly enquiry index #### [When does your demand peak? Bespoke reports track your own enquiry and sales volumes month by month, so you can plan stock, marketing and staffing around your real demand curve. Explore bespoke reports](https://tla.co/client-intelligence?hsLang=en-gb) The index rebases each month's enquiry volume against the average month across the period, so 100 is an average month and the dashed line marks that baseline. 07 ### What can buyers afford How the pieces of the deal have shifted over time, each indexed to a baseline of 100. Affordability indices #### [How is affordability shifting for your buyers? Bespoke reports track your own deposits, part-exchange values and finance gaps over time, so you can see how much of the deal your buyers are funding and how that is changing. Explore bespoke reports](https://tla.co/client-intelligence?hsLang=en-gb) Each series is rebased to 100 at Q4 2024, so the lines show movement relative to that quarter rather than absolute values. Deposit affordability, part-exchange, price and finance gap are quarterly indices across all OEMs. ## Want insight this sharp on your own buyers? We turn first-party data into customer acquisition for the UK's leading car brands. Let's talk about what it could do for you. 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