Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

VW Golf

* See the Top 120 best-selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at end of post! *

Thanks to a tip from Florian, we now have access to the 120 best-sellers in the entire world, data sourced on Interautonews and AutoWorld. We were expecting the Toyota Corolla to lead the way, not so! 2000 is a real year off for the Corolla, only 10th with 603,351 sales…

The VW Golf is the best-selling car in the world in 2000 with no less than 1,143,044 units sold (including 690,400 in Europe). The Ford F-Series is #2 with 1,006,325 sales, including 876,716 in the US, ahead of the Opel Astra at 929,594 units and the Ford Focus with 926,284 sales.

Ford F150

The Renault Megane/Scenic is #5 at 730,383 units, followed by the Opel Corsa with 688,998 sales and the Peugeot 206 at 646,405 units. Notice the BMW 3 Series up to a fantastic 16th place with 477,853 sales, nearly doubling the score of the Mercedes C Class (#38 and 248,965 sales).

Mercury Sable

The best-selling Korean model in the world in 2000 is the Daewoo Matiz at #48 and 211,498 units, ahead of the Hyundai Accent at #51 and the Hyundai Sonata at #68. Other curiosities include the Dodge Neon at #42, the Oldsmobile Alero at #85, the Cadillac De Ville at #113 and the Mercury Sable at #114.

Full Year 2000 Top 120 Ranking Table below.

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* See the Top 10 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

I only have official data for the first two months of the year in Portugal. If you have more complete figures please make sure to get in touch!

Renewed in 1999, the Fiat Punto takes the lead of Portuguese car sales with 3,181 registrations and a 6% market share, ahead of the Peugeot 206 at 2,970 sales (5.6%) and the Renault Clio at 2,828 (5.4%). The VW Polo progresses nicely in 4th with 2,294 sales (4.3%).

Previous year: Portugal 1999: Renault Clio takes the lead for the first time

Next year: Portugal 2001: Opel Corsa and Renault Clio fight

Full 2 months 2000 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

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Fiat Punto

* See the Top 10 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

* Many thanks to Erik for making this post possible! *

Originally launched in early 1994 in Ireland, the first generation Fiat Punto had to wait until its last year in 1998 to reach the first place of the Irish models ranking, selling 7,569 units that year, ahead of the Toyota Corolla and Ford Fiesta. In 1999, the 2nd generation Punto (pictured above) was introduced and sales increased to 7,913, keeping the Punto nameplate as the nation’s favourite car with a strong 4.5% market share.

The Irish market then took off in 2000, growing by a massive 32.5% to 225,800 units, still to this date a volume record for the country. However the Fiat Punto outperformed the market with an outstanding 39.8% sales increase to reach 11,065 units and 4.9% share that year.

Previous post: Ireland 1996: Ford Fiesta takes the lead

Next post: Ireland 2001-2003: Focus, Almera and Corolla on top

Full Year 1998 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

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Toyota Corolla

* See the Top 20 best-selling models by clicking on title! Thanks to Vic and Miguel *

Two Toyotas fight it out for the title of best-selling car in South Africa over the period: the Toyota Corolla wins over 4 months in 1997 and 8 months in 1998 but the Toyota Conquest is close behind. However, when you know that the Conquest is in fact a previous generation (1987) Corolla that stayed in the catalogue, it’s like the Corolla fighting with itself!

Toyota Conquest

Other popular models over the period include the VW Citi Golf, a 1984 VW Golf slightly facelifted but still on sale a la Conquest, the Opel Kadett/Astra, Opel Corsa, VW Polo Classic, Mazda Midge/Ford Tracer (aka Mercury Tracer/Ford Escort), BMW 3 Series, Nissan Sentra/Sabre and Honda Civic/Ballade.

4 months 1997 Top 20 and 8 months 1998 Top 10 Ranking Tables below.

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VW Golf

* See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks Florian for the data *

In 2000 the German car market is down 11% at 3,378,886 registrations. The VW Golf celebrates 20 consecutive years in pole position but is down 4% to 300,579 sales and 8.9% share. For the first time the Golf now sells nearly double the amount of the #2, the Opel Astra, in difficulty at 157,936 units and 4.7% this year, down 31% year-on-year. The BMW 3 Series is only 0.3% and 10,000 units below at 147,613 sales and 4.4% share…

BMW 3 Series

The Mercedes C Class, helped by its recent renewal, is up 6 spots to #4 with 115,761 units and 3.4%, above the VW Passat at 102,659 sales and 3%. These are the only 5 models able to sell more than 100,000 units in Germany this year, down from 12 in 1996. There is only one new entrant in the Top 15: the Opel Zafira at #15 with 56,331 sales and 1.7%, up 46% on 1999.

Opel Zafira

For the first time in 5 years, the best-selling import is not a Renault: it is the Fiat Punto at #17 with 1.5%, followed by the Peugeot 206 (#19), Renault Twingo (#21), Renault Scenic (#22) and Skoda Octavia (#24). Notice the MCC smart breaking into the Top 20 for the first time at #20 with 48,032 sales and 1.4%, and the Mercedes CLK breaking into the Top 30 at #30 and 29,390 units.

Full Top 100 Ranking Table below.

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I could only access data for the first 5 months of 1998, when the VW Gol ranked #1 with over 21,000 sales each month, adding up to 119,044 units and 17.4% market share over the period. The Gol is also the best selling car in Brazil in 1999 and 2000.

The Fiat Palio is weakening a little and loses its 2nd spot to the Chevrolet Corsa Hatch in February 1998 before getting back to 20,000+ monthly sales in April and May of that year. The Chevrolet Vectra, 6th over 1997, climbs to 4th over 5 months 1998 with 32,557 sales and 4.8%, ahead of the Fiat Uno (4.4%), Ford Fiesta (3.6%) and Ford Ka (3.4%).

Full 5 months 1998 Top 20 Ranking Table below.

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VW Golf

* See the Top 10/15/20 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

The VW Golf is very popular in Norway over the period, finishing #1 each year, at 8,356 sales in 1998, 5,900 in 1999 and 5,819 in 2000. The #2 spot changes hands each year, from the VW Passat at 6,103 units in 1998 to the Opel Astra at 4,520 sales in 1999 to the Toyota Yaris at 4,937 units in 2000 for only its second year in market.

Toyota Yaris

Other popular models over the period include the Toyota Avensis #4 in 1998, the Ford Focus #4 in 1999 and 2000, the Opel Vectra #5 in 1998 and the Toyota Corolla #5 in 1999.

Previous post: Norway 1990-2000: VW Golf, Toyota Corolla and Opel Astra on top

Next post: Norway 2001: VW Passat and Ford Mondeo dominate

Full Year 1998 Top 10, 1999 Top 15 and 2000 Top 20 Ranking Tables below.

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Opel Astra 2nd generation

* See each year’s Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at end of post! *

Once again the Dutch car market is strikingly stable with the two same models in the lead over the 9 year period! The transition from the Opel Kadett to the Astra in 1992 was very smooth and the Astra took the relay without issues at an imposing 8.2% market share in 1992. Its market share will however fall throughout the period to finish at 5.3% in 2000, the only exception being for the launch of the 2nd generation in 1998 when it generated a 6.3% share followed by 6.6% in 1999.

VW Golf

Replacing the Ford Escort as the second-most favourite car in Dutch consumers’ hearts, the VW Golf held itself particularly well over the period, slowly but surely closing the gap separating it from the top spot. It started at 4.7% in 1992 and finished at 4.8% in 2000, peaking at 5.7% in 1995.

Ford Focus

The 3rd place changes hands each year up until 1999, with the Opel Vectra, Ford Escort, Opel Corsa, Renault Megane and VW Polo all taking their turn before the Ford Focus manages to stay in that spot two years in a row in 1999 and 2000, peaking at 4% share in 2000. Only one Japanese model managed to break into the year-end Top 5: the Mazda 626, ranking 5th in 1992.

Note that 1999 marked the highest car sales volume ever in the Netherlands at 611,776 units.

Click on ‘Read more’ below to see each year’s Top 100 Ranking Table (Top 230 for 2000).

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VW Golf

* See the Top 25 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Rene *

At this stage I don’t have access to yearly rankings for Norway up until 1993, only a Top 25 models for the whole decade from 1990 to 2000. If you have more detailed information prior to 1993 please make sure to get in touch by commenting on this article! Like in the eighties, the VW Golf tops the nineties decade ranking in Norway with a very strong 6.1% market share, up from 4.9% over the previous decade.

Toyota Corolla

The nineties is the time the Toyota Corolla established itself as a regular candidate to the title of best-selling model in Norway, finishing the decade at #2 with an outstanding 5.1% share. It is followed by the Opel Astra at 3.7%, the VW Passat at 3.5%, the Ford Mondeo at 3.3% and the Opel Vectra at 3.1%.

There are 10 Japanese models in the Top 25 with the Mazda 323 (#8) and Toyota Carina (#10) also ranking within the Top 10. The first Korean model appears at #18 and it’s the Hyundai Accent.

Previous post: Norway 1996: VW Golf #1, Hyundai Accent #10

Next post: Norway 1998-2000: VW Golf in command

Full Nineties Top 25 Ranking Table below.

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Renault Clio

The French car market is stable in 2000 at 2,133,884 registrations. The Renault Clio keeps the lead at 8.8% but the Peugeot 206 is getting significantly closer at 8.3% for its 2nd full year of sales.

In 3rd, the Renault Scenic delivers its best-ever year with a 6.5% market share and close to 140,000 sales. The Peugeot 406 is solid in 4th ahead of the Renault Megane and Peugeot 306.

Renault Scenic

At June 2000, the Fiat Punto was the best-selling foreign model with 33,881 sales and 3% of the market (Full year figures not available).

Top 10 Full Year 2000 and Top 50 1st Half 2000 below.

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