New data has revealed the most popular cars for scrapping in 2022.

Scrap Car Comparison  carried out analysis of the statistics to reveal both the top models and top makes being broken up and recycled last year.

Getting focussed

Scrap data reveals that for the sixth year running the Ford Focus hit the scrap heap the most in 2022.

With the average age of scrapped vehicles sitting at around 14 years old, it’s easier to see why so many of these cars are now hitting the scrap heap. The Ford Focus topped the charts as the most sold car in 2001 and maintained this position through to 2007. It means that many of them are likely to be coming to the end of their driveability some twenty years later.  

Of corsa

The Vauxhall Astra and Corsa follow as the second and third most scrapped car models last year, whilst bringing up the rear of the top five are the Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Golf. This is an identical result to  2021.

Ford’s Fiesta has been the most popular car in sales over the last decade. Last year the model was discontinued, but it’s likely that it will remain in the top five for years to come. In fact, the top ten is likely to be largely unchanged over the coming years.  

Beemer boomer

Despite last year’s list being largely reflective of 2021’s most scrapped models, there were a few new additions to this 2022’s top ten. This includes the executive BMW 3 Series, the first time a BMW vehicle has ranked in Scrap Car Comparison’s top ten list.

The Ford Transit (often the van of choice for tradespeople) and the retro Mini Hatch (Cooper/One) were also new additions to the list.

A number of 2021’s top ten vehicles, including the Peugeot 206, Volkswagen Polo and Ford Mondeo, have dropped just outside of the top ten in 2022. The correlation between popularity of sales, time and discontinuation is strong. Mondeo Man, a popular political poll euphemism for the the middle-class working man in the 90s seems to have become turn of phrase now limited to the history books. 

Top 10 most scrapped car models in 2022

  • Ford Focus 
  • Vauxhall Corsa 
  • Vauxhall Astra 
  • Ford Fiesta 
  • Volkswagen Golf 
  • BMW 3 Series 
  • Ford Transit 
  • Mini Hatch (Cooper/One) 
  • Vauxhall Zafira 
  • Renault Clio 

The peoples’ choice

With the Ford Focus revealed as the most scrapped car model, along with two other Ford models placed in the top ten, it’s no surprise that Ford also ranks as the most scrapped car manufacturer overall. Almost 16% of all cars scrapped in 2022 were made by the manufacturer. The most common of these were the Focus (#1), Fiesta (#4), Transit (#7), Mondeo(#13), and Ka (#26).

Their popular sales competitor, Vauxhall, comes in second with the Corsa (#2), Astra (#3), Zafira (#9), Insignia (#22) and Vectra (#27).

Volkswagen, Peugeot and Renault brought up the rear of the top five. This is also unchanged compared to 2021.  

New heads on the block

New entry car manufacturers to the top ten included German brands BMW, Audi and Mercedes. BMW’s rankings were significantly boosted by the number of recorded 3 Series being scrapped – more than the 1 Series, 5 Series and X5s combined.

Audi comes in at number eight in the charts with their A4 and A3 models. Again, this ties in with their increasing popularity throughout the last twenty years.

Scrap numbers of Mercedes’ C, A, and E Class models, as well as the Vito and Sprinter from the brand’s van range, propelled them into 10th position. 

  

Top 10 most scrapped car manufacturers in 2022

  • Ford 
  • Vauxhall 
  • Volkswagen 
  • Peugeot 
  • Renault 
  • BMW 
  • Citroen 
  • Audi 
  • Toyota  
  • Mercedes 

 Life after death 

“Popularity will always have a bearing on which cars are scrapped,” says Dan Gick, Managing Director of Scrap Car Comparison. “2022’s results help to spotlight the enduring popularity of the Focus model, even if many do eventually meet the scrap heap.  

“After being broken down and crushed, every single one of these top scrapped cars and vans will be put to good use in a number of different ways. 95% of the mass of every car must, by law, be recycled, and this ensures that the absolute minimum of each vehicle goes to waste. 

“No matter the age of your car, it’s always worth trying to get as much life out of a vehicle as possible”.   

You can view the full findings of the study here.