Lotus' December sales rose 56 percent, Lamborghini and Ferrari were up 44 percent, Jaguar grew 36 percent, Rolls-Royce increased sales 29 percent, Toyota brand jumped 24 percent, Opel/Vauxhall made a 19 percent gain, while Volkswagen brand and Porsche both climbed 18 percent.
The models that propelled the brands' growth in December were the Lotus Elise, Lamborghini Aventador and Ferrari F8, Jaguar I-Pace full-electric crossover, Rolls-Royce Ghost, Toyota Yaris, Opel/Vauxhall Corsa, and the full-electric VW ID3 and Porsche Taycan, according to figures from market researcher JATO Dynamics.
The other brands that recorded gains last month included Lancia (+21 percent), Seat (+12 percent), Jeep (+8.5 percent), Tesla (+8.2 percent), Lexus (+5.2 percent) and Skoda (+5.1 percent).
Meanwhile, four brands including Hyundai and Land Rover reported month-on-month sales declines but still beat the overall market.
A large number of models increased sales in December despite retail challenges caused by the pandemic, including the Renault Zoe, which rose more than 230 percent to 16,288 sales.
The full-electric Nissan Leaf was up more than 90 percent to 5,325, and Volvo increased sales of the XC40 compact SUV by 63 percent to 14,614.
For the full year the biggest brand winners were MG Motor, with an 81 percent increase on 2019, and Ferrari, which grew 8.1 percent last year. It's also worth noting that Volvo Cars subsidiary Polestar finished its first full year on the market with 8,878 sales, of which 8,810 units were the Polestar 2 full-electric sedan.