Car statistics

Nissan car statistics

How many Nissan cars are on the road in Great Britain, every Nissan model, its share of new cars over time and which fuels they use, how they do at the MOT and their safety recalls. Built from DVLA licensing records and DVSA MOT results.

Last updated
Records analysed
37,339,879 car records (licensed and SORN)
Methodology
View methodology
  • Licensed in Great Britain 1,707,327 +1.0% on a year earlier
  • Rank among makes No. 8 5.1% of licensed cars
  • MOT first-time pass rate, 2025 68.1% Cars of the same ages 72.4%
  • New registrations in 2025 90,262 4.5% of all new cars
  • Most common fuel Petrol 56.1% of those licensed
  • Safety recalls since 1992 110 naming 18 Nissan models

How many Nissan cars are on the road?

There were 1,707,327 Nissan cars licensed in Great Britain at the end of March 2026, and a further 128,070 declared off the road (SORN). That is 5.1% of all licensed cars, or about 1 in 20, making Nissan the No. 8 make on the road. That is the most on the road at any year end since 1994. Hybrid makes up 14.8% of licensed Nissan cars, against 9.0% of all cars.

Nissan cars licensed in Great Britain

Numbers are still rising: the latest count is the highest in this series.

Nissan cars licensed in Great Britain at the end of each year
Year Licensed
1994 1,006,480
1995 1,054,340
1996 1,121,067
1997 1,166,701
1998 1,213,963
1999 1,250,808
2000 1,261,256
2001 1,270,327
2002 1,264,787
2003 1,248,239
2004 1,250,848
2005 1,239,543
2006 1,202,862
2007 1,180,910
2008 1,160,575
2009 1,146,729
2010 1,153,215
2011 1,162,720
2012 1,185,806
2013 1,222,417
2014 1,263,818
2015 1,332,568
2016 1,409,396
2017 1,470,647
2018 1,506,809
2019 1,532,523
2020 1,537,098
2021 1,558,831
2022 1,594,505
2023 1,632,030
2024 1,675,548
2025 1,703,741
2026 1,707,327

Source:DfT / DVLA End of March 2026 Updated

Fuel type

Nissan cars

All cars in Great Britain

Source:DfT / DVLA End of March 2026 Updated

Nissan models

30 Nissan models have a page of their own. The most common is the Nissan Qashqai, with 684,098 licensed: 40.1% of all Nissan cars on the road. Over the last year the Juke added the most cars on the road (+21,923, +5.7%) and the Micra lost the most (−14,610, −6.3%). The totals above also count models too small for a page of their own.

Nissan models with their own page, most licensed first
Model Licensed Change on a year SORN Main fuel MOT pass rate
Qashqai 684,098 +2.8% 15,583 Petrol 69.0%
Juke 406,533 +5.7% 7,072 Petrol 69.7%
Micra 217,291 −6.3% 38,424 Petrol 63.3%
Note 135,188 −5.0% 5,004 Petrol 63.1%
X-Trail 107,496 +2.9% 8,981 Diesel 69.5%
Leaf 58,883 −2.7% 1,912 Electric 80.2%
Pulsar 19,775 −1.6% 373 Petrol 70.7%
Ariya 14,189 +24.6% 75 Electric 91.4%
Pixo 9,872 −8.1% 568 Petrol 63.7%
Almera 9,011 −22.3% 9,912 Petrol 55.7%
Pathfinder 3,568 −16.4% 1,937 Diesel 55.7%
350 3,162 −8.0% 2,573 Petrol 73.5%
NV200 3,102 −3.6% 184 Diesel
370 1,997 −2.4% 419 Petrol 85.3%
Primera 1,911 −24.3% 5,760 Petrol 57.2%
GT-R 1,785 −3.2% 914 Petrol 95.2%
Elgrand 1,256 +71.1% 161 Petrol
Cube 1,079 −1.8% 125 Petrol
Terrano 630 −21.2% 4,048 Diesel 59.8%
Patrol 594 −11.6% 1,463 Diesel
200 580 +0.7% 2,522 Petrol
Murano 505 −23.8% 430 Petrol
Skyline 460 −1.1% 1,364 Petrol 86.3%
Serena 427 +20.6% 496 Petrol
Silvia 317 +1.3% 786 Petrol
Sunny 281 −9.4% 1,632 Petrol
300 192 +7.3% 994 Petrol
Bluebird 164 −5.2% 820 Petrol
Primastar 157 −7.6% 77 Diesel
NV300 116 −4.9% 10 Diesel

MOT pass rates are first-time passes of cars aged three and over in 2025. A dash means too few tests, or a model DVSA’s records do not separate from vans.

New Nissan cars registered each year

Registrations of new Nissan cars in Great Britain peaked at 153,043 in 2015. In 2025, 90,262 were registered for the first time: 4.5% of all new cars, against 6.0% in 2017, Nissan’s best year for share of new cars.

Registered for the first time, by year

Nissan cars registered for the first time in Great Britain, by year
Year First registrations
’01 96,680
’02 103,050
’03 108,486
’04 94,242
’05 91,348
’06 72,602
’07 69,931
’08 68,215
’09 78,292
’10 88,285
’11 93,898
’12 103,234
’13 115,568
’14 136,256
’15 153,043
’16 152,130
’17 150,737
’18 102,687
’19 92,691
’20 72,217
’21 70,573
’22 78,563
’23 90,222
’24 101,126
’25 90,262

Source:DfT / DVLA 2001 to 2025 Updated

Share of all new cars

Nissan’s first registrations as a share of every car registered for the first time in Great Britain that year.

Nissan share of all new cars registered in Great Britain, by year
Year Share of new cars
2001 3.7%
2002 3.8%
2003 4.1%
2004 3.6%
2005 3.7%
2006 3.1%
2007 2.9%
2008 3.2%
2009 4.0%
2010 4.4%
2011 4.9%
2012 5.1%
2013 5.2%
2014 5.6%
2015 5.9%
2016 5.7%
2017 6.0%
2018 4.4%
2019 4.0%
2020 4.5%
2021 4.3%
2022 4.9%
2023 4.7%
2024 5.2%
2025 4.5%

Source:DfT / DVLA 2001 to 2025 Updated

Nissan MOT reliability

In 2025, 68.1% of MOT tests of Nissan cars were passed first time, from 1,520,368 tests. Cars of the same ages pass 72.4% of the time, so Nissan does worse than average for the age of its cars, by 4.3 points. That ranks Nissan No. 41 of the 50 makes with enough tests to compare. 8.1% of Nissan tests found at least one dangerous defect, against 7.3% for all cars.

Among Nissan models with enough tests, the GT-R does best for its age (+27.8 points against cars of the same ages) and the Qashqai does worst (−5.5 points). Average age at test for Nissan cars: 10.6 years.

Nissan models by MOT pass rate against cars of the same ages, 2025
Model Tests Pass rate Same ages Difference
GT-R 2,388 95.2% 67.4% +27.8 pts
Skyline 2,032 86.3% 63.3% +23.0 pts
370 1,755 85.3% 64.9% +20.4 pts
350 4,807 73.5% 61.0% +12.5 pts
Pixo 10,729 63.7% 61.0% +2.7 pts
Ariya 1,390 91.4% 89.5% +1.9 pts
Terrano 1,137 59.8% 60.9% −1.1 pts
Note 146,830 63.1% 64.7% −1.6 pts
Leaf 52,865 80.2% 82.1% −1.9 pts
Primera 2,490 57.2% 60.5% −3.3 pts
Micra 237,297 63.3% 67.2% −3.9 pts
X-Trail 88,071 69.5% 73.8% −4.3 pts
Pulsar 20,884 70.7% 75.6% −4.9 pts
Almera 11,249 55.7% 60.7% −5.0 pts
Pathfinder 4,725 55.7% 60.9% −5.2 pts
Juke 327,611 69.7% 75.0% −5.3 pts
Qashqai 599,124 69.0% 74.5% −5.5 pts

Every make and model ranked by MOT pass rate

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis 2025 Updated

Nissan safety recalls

DVSA lists 110 safety recalls naming a Nissan car model since 1992, across 18 models. 46 were launched from 2016 to 2025, ranking Nissan No. 18 of the makes with recalls in those years. A recall naming several Nissan models counts once.

Recalls launched each year, 2006 to 2025

Safety recalls naming a Nissan car model, by year launched
Year Recalls
’06 5
’07 1
’08 5
’09 3
’10 6
’11 0
’12 7
’13 7
’14 2
’15 7
’16 6
’17 7
’18 5
’19 4
’20 3
’21 5
’22 0
’23 6
’24 4
’25 6

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated

Models with the most recalls

Nissan models with the most safety recalls since 1992
Model Recalls
Nissan Qashqai 26
Nissan Micra 20
Nissan X-Trail 19
Nissan Juke 15
Nissan Almera 12
Nissan Note 10
Nissan Pathfinder 8
Nissan Patrol 7
Nissan Leaf 6
Nissan Terrano 6

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated

Latest Nissan recalls

Models mostly registered as vans are left out, as on our recalls hub. A recall applies to vehicles built on particular dates or with particular VINs, not to every Nissan. To check a specific car, use GOV.UK’s vehicle recall check. How we match recalls to models.

Source:DVSA,UK Motoring analysis January 1992 to September 2026 Updated

Makes of a similar size

Nissan compared with makes of a similar size
Rank Make Licensed Change on a year Main fuel MOT vs same ages
5 Audi 1,982,111 +1.7% Petrol +4.7 pts
6 Toyota 1,777,976 +2.0% Petrol +2.8 pts
7 Mercedes-Benz 1,732,633 +1.0% Diesel +3.5 pts
8 Nissan 1,707,327 +1.0% Petrol −4.3 pts
9 Kia 1,278,733 +6.3% Petrol −1.4 pts
10 Peugeot 1,230,416 −0.7% Petrol −5.2 pts
11 Hyundai 1,150,509 +4.9% Petrol −1.0 pts

Data sources and methodology

Datasets used on this page
Figures Source Period Records Updated
Licensed and SORN counts Vehicle licensing statistics Department for Transport End of March 2026 37,339,879 car records (licensed and SORN) 15 September 2026
Registered for the first time Vehicle licensing statistics Department for Transport 2001 to 2025 15 September 2026
MOT results Anonymised MOT tests and results Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
Derived statistics UK Motoring
2025 29,122,953 car MOT tests 15 September 2026
Safety recalls Vehicle safety recalls Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency
Derived statistics UK Motoring
January 1992 to September 2026 7,495 road vehicle recalls (R/) 15 September 2026
  • Figures cover Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). Northern Ireland is not included.
  • Make totals count every car DVLA records under the make, including models too small for a page of their own. The rank is among all 525 makes on the record.
  • Licensed counts are vehicles with a current tax or exemption at the end of each year (or the latest quarter). SORN counts are shown separately.
  • First registrations count cars registered in Great Britain for the first time, including used imports.
  • MOT figures cover normal tests of cars aged three and over; retests are excluded. The same-ages figure is what all cars would score with this make’s mix of ages.

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.