One popular car brand makes up half of the top 10 most stolen vehicles in UK

Motorists have been told that one particular brand of car is proving more popular than anything else for thieves. While in the past thieves were targeting Range Rovers, produced by Jaguar Land Rover, new data has suggested they are now going after Lexuscars instead.

Data from the DVLA, the Driver & Vehicle Licensing Agency, shows that five Lexus cars are in the top 10 cars most likely to be stolen. The DVLA assessed stolen car data from 2024, a year in which more than 61,000 cars were stolen, to come to the conclusion.

Their data found that whilst the most stolen car was also the UK’s most popular second-hand car, the Ford Fiesta, they noticed that cars made by Lexus made up a significant proportion of the thefts as opposed to sheer number.

READ MORE: Brits urged to drive with a bowl of water on their passenger seat

READ MORE: Major PIP and Blue Badge update to claimants as welfare reforms unveiled

What this means in practice is that while the Ford Fiestawas the most stolen car by volume, in terms of proportion of thefts to vehicles produced it was much lower as a percentage.

Their research, that ranks stolen cars as proportion of the total number registered, discovered that the Lexus ES 300 was the car most likely to be stolen in 2024 with one in 30 of the vehicles stolen.

Other Lexus models included in the list were the Lexus RX 450, LC 500, UX 250 and NX 300, reports Autocar. Following the announcement of the results, a spokesperson for Toyota, who own Lexus, said: “Toyota GB has invested millions of pounds in a variety of security solutions. Our anti-theft measures form part of a nationwide customer care offering.

“For example, at a cost of more than £10million to Lexus, selected customers were provided with a free Tracker vehicle location service.

“As a result, a 96% recovery rate has been achieved. We have subsequently rolled out Tracker installation as an option for buyers of certain models.”

Although the new data is sad reading for those who may own a Lexus it demonstrates the progress made by Jaguar Land Roverto protect their cars in recent years, with the vehicles now some of the most protected in the country.

In a separate statement, head of police liaison at Tracker Clive Wain added that while progress had been made by the British brand that there was still more work to be done to stop stolen cars leaving the country.

He explained: “Lexus is making considerable efforts to protect its customers’ cars but JLR suffered a rise in thefts sooner than it and so has had more time to react and develop solutions.

“However, its cars are still being stolen. There is a thriving market overseas for Lexus, JLR and other premium vehicles and we recover many at docksides.”