Europe 1991: VW Golf leads, Ford Fiesta & Renault Clio on podium
Ford Fiesta
1991 is the year of the change-over for the VW Golf: the 2nd generation, originally launched in 1983, is replaced by a 3rd one in October. As a result, the overall sales figure is lower this year for the Golf at 648,200 units and 4.8% share. The rest of the podium is completely new: revamped in 1989, the Ford Fiesta continues to progress and gains 2 spots to land in 2nd position this year with 594,200 sales and 4.4%.
Renault Clio
The Renault Clio, launched in May 1990, manages to make its way onto the podium for its first full year of sales with 542,100 units changing hands and 4% market share. It was even the best selling car in Europe in September 1991 when the Golf was in the midst of its generation change-over (see note on this below the fold).
In 4th position, the Fiat Uno drops one place at 4% share. The Opel Kadett, at the end of its career with the new Opel Astra released at the end of year, is down 3 spots in 5th with 487,000 sales and 3.6%, just above the Peugeot 205. The Ford Escort, Opel Vectra, Renault 19 and VW Passat complete the Top 10. Fiat places 3 models in the Top 20 with the Panda and #16 and the Tipo at #17.
Full Top 20 Ranking Table below.
Europe Full Year 1991:
| Pos | Model | 1991 | % |
| 1 | VW Golf | 648,200 | 4.8% |
| 2 | Ford Fiesta | 594,900 | 4.4% |
| 3 | Renault Clio | 542,100 | 4.0% |
| 4 | Fiat Uno | 539,900 | 4.0% |
| 5 | Opel Kadett | 487,000 | 3.6% |
| 6 | Peugeot 205 | 484,600 | 3.6% |
| 7 | Ford Escort | 457,800 | 3.4% |
| 8 | Opel Vectra | 432,300 | 3.2% |
| 9 | Renault 19 | 391,600 | 2.9% |
| 10 | VW Passat | 351,400 | 2.6% |
| 11 | Opel Corsa | 337,700 | 2.5% |
| 12 | VW Polo | 298,800 | 2.2% |
| 13 | Ford Sierra | 269,900 | 2.0% |
| 14 | Peugeot 405 | 256,600 | 1.9% |
| 15 | Citroen AX | 255,700 | 1.9% |
| 16 | Fiat Panda | 254,900 | 1.9% |
| 17 | Fiat Tipo | 245,100 | 1.8% |
| 18 | Mercedes 200/300 | 229,800 | 1.7% |
| 19 | Audi 80 | 190,500 | 1.4% |
| 20 | Renault 21 | 188,700 | 1.4% |
Note on the Renault Clio taking the first place in September 1991: this has not been officially recorded as a ‘non-Golf’ month. So it may be that the Clio led the ranking vs. the two generations of Golf taken separately, but not vs. cumulated sales of both generations of Golf. If you have more details on this please make sure to get in touch.
