Sunbeam
Sunbeam · on record 1994 to 2025
Registrations where both make and model are recorded simply as Sunbeam are too broad to identify a specific vehicle family. They may represent older pre Rootes cars, incomplete historic records or later models whose individual name was omitted. Exact interpretation requires registration date, engine and body style. The entry is therefore best retained as an unresolved historic Sunbeam rather than assigned confidently to Alpine, Rapier or another better documented model.
CRITICALLY ENDANGERED
Red List classification, from population, five year trajectory and survival against peak. Reviewed each census.
2
licensed vehicles
2025 census
2025 census
40.0% of the peak fleet remains licensed
3
declared SORN
total surviving
peak 5 in 1994 · −1 vehicles a year, five year trend
Population history
Licensed and SORN vehicles at each census. The filters below apply to the family population, MOT and registration figures. They do not alter the generation history above.
Licensed
SORN
Latest census observation
At the average decline recorded over the latest five years, the licensed fleet would reach zero around 2027.
Illustrative projection only; vehicle populations rarely decline linearly. Late fleets typically flatten as surviving examples enter preservation.
Inside the surviving fleet
AutoCensus parses every DVLA variant description, so the fleet can be read by fuel and specification rather than as one number.
First registrations by year
When surviving examples first joined the British fleet.
New registrations
Vehicles first registered each year. A fleet still being sold shows here; a finished one shows only imports.
MOT reliability
DVSA test results for this family, 2006 to 2024.
Pass rate by year
| Failure reason | Failures | Share of all tests |
|---|---|---|
| Deliberate modification which significantly reduces the original strength, excessive corrosion, severe distortion, a fracture or an inadequate repair of a load bearing member or its supporting structure or supporting panelling within 30cm of any sub- | 9 | 10.5% |
| The windscreen washers do not provide enough liquid to clear the windscreen in conjunction with the wiper(s) | 2 | 2.3% |
| Deliberate modification which significantly reduces the original strength, excessive corrosion, severe distortion, a fracture or an inadequate repair of a load bearing member or its supporting structure or supporting panelling within 30cm of any sub- | 2 | 2.3% |
| A direction indicator inoperative or less than 50% of the light sources illuminating | 2 | 2.3% |
| Significant braking effort recorded on a road wheel, even though the brake is not applied, indicating that a brake is binding | 2 | 2.3% |
| A ball joint dust cover missing, insecure or excessively damaged or deteriorated to the extent that it would no longer prevent the ingress of dirt etc. | 1 | 1.2% |
| Excessive wear in a pin and/or bush, for example: 2mm for a 12mm diameter pin; 3mm for a 25mm diameter pin; 10% of the pin diameter for pins over 25mm diameter, deterioration of a rubber bush resulting in excessive movement | 1 | 1.2% |
| The braking efforts at the road wheels do not increase at about the same rate when the service brake is applied gradually | 1 | 1.2% |
Counted across every recorded test, 2006 to 2024. Advisories are excluded.
Where the Sunbeam remains
Based on MOT test locations, 2024. Test location is a proxy: a vehicle is counted where it was last tested, not where it is kept.
| Postcode area | Vehicles tested | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|
| LL | 4 | 100% |
| PL | 2 | 100% |
| IV | 1 | 100% |
How this record was calculated
LATEST CENSUS2025
POPULATION SOURCEDVLA VEH0220 annual
HISTORY SOURCEDVLA VEH0120 GB · to 2013
MOT SOURCEDVSA results · to 2024
FAMILY DEFINITIONSUNBEAM SUNBEAM
PROCESSED20 Sep 2026
Full methodology
Population history combines DVLA VEH0120 Q4 census observations through 2013 with the annual VEH0220 census from 2014 onward. Figures before 2014 cover Great Britain only. Historical VEH0120 is used only when its overlapping UK observations reconcile to the current canonical family definition. Vehicles are grouped into this family using the DVLA GenModel together with durable routing rules for known inconsistencies.
Variant figures are parsed from raw DVLA model descriptions and the original string is always retained. Configuration is only assigned where the model description explicitly identifies it; a blank configuration is not treated as a two door Wrangler. Blank transmission fields are shown as manual because DVLA records the field for automatic vehicles.
MOT figures count tests, not vehicles, and geographic figures count each vehicle at its most recent test location. The decline projection is a straight line fitted to the latest five years and is illustrative only.