Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

VW Golf 6

* See the Top 346 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Florian *

At 3,090,040 registrations this year, down 2%, German new car sales are at their lowest since the reunification… The VW Golf is slowing getting itself out of the weakest period of the nameplate’s 35 year career, thanks to the Station Wagon version and the 6th generation launched towards the end of the year. It is up 15% to 173,034 sales and 5.6% market share, still very shy by Golf standards.

Audi A4

For the first time in 50 years (since 1958!), only one model sells over 100,000 units in Germany, showing the increasing fragmentation of the market. The Audi A4 reaches an annual 2nd place for the first time ever in Germany, up 17% to 98,714 sales and 3.2%. It peaked at 10,106 units and 3.8% in July.

Mercedes C Class

The Mercedes C Class confirms the success of its current generation by finishing the year at an excellent #3 with 93,733 sales and 3%, up 20%. Its best month was also July at 9,646 units and 3.7%. The BMW 3 Series drops 1 spot to #4 and the VW Passat drops 3 to #5. The Opel Astra is down 8% to #6, albeit reaching a lowest-ever 16th place and 1.6% share in November.

BMW 1 Series

The BMW 1 Series has by a large margin its best-ever year so far in Germany, #7 overall with 75,621 sales and 2.4%, up 8 spots and 37%. It delivered its best-ever month in May with 8,567 sales and 3.1% in 4th place. Its direct competitor, the Audi A3, dropped 1 rank to #11 but reached a best-ever 5th place in November.

Helped by the new generation, the Skoda Fabia broke into the Germany Top 10 for the very first time in August and repeated this feat twice within the year, reaching a best-ever 5,859 sales in September and 2.3% share in December. It finished the year at #14, its best year-end position in Germany so far.

The VW Tiguan, launched in late 2007, progressed regularly all throughout the year to reach a record 17th place and 1.6% share in November. It is #24 in the full year. At #17, the Peugeot 207 is the 2nd best-selling import, peaking at #12 and 1.9% in May. Hyundai makes history in November and becomes the first South Korean manufacturer to place two models within the German Top 25: the i10 at #22 and the Getz at #25.

Full Top 346 and every Monthly Top 30 Ranking Tables below.

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Audi A4

* See the Top 25 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

The car market is down only 1.5% in 2008 in Austria at 293,697 registrations. The VW Golf is the best selling car again this year with 12,724 sales and 4.3% share. It lead the way 10 months out of 12, and is followed by a Skoda Fabia boosted by its new generation launched during the year, #2 at 8,106 sales and 2.8% share.

Only 24 units below is the Audi A4, delivering its best-ever year in Austria at #3 with 8,082 sales and 2.8%. It was even #1 in August. Below are the VW Polo (-16%), Peugeot 207 (-1%) and VW Passat (-28%). The new VW Golf VI, launched in September, progresses fast and takes the lead in December at 594 sales. It clocks up 1,786 sales in 4 months.

Full Year 2008 Top 25 Ranking Table below.

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+17% for the Slovak car market in 2008, reaching 70,040 registrations. Skoda places the Fabia and Octavia on top of the sales ranking again, and the Fabia continues its slow decline at -5% this year and 7,922 sales or 11.3% of the market. The Octavia grows faster than the market at +31% with 4,863 sales and 6.9%.

After the Ignis in 2005 and the Swift in 2007, the SX4 is the ‘Suzuki du jour’ in Slovakia, growing 136% year-on-year to reach 2,619 sales, a very solid 3.7% market share and an outstanding 3rd place. Both the Kia Cee’d (2.8%) and the Citroen C3 (2.7%) grow 9% in 4th and 5th positions respectively, ahead of the Renault Thalia in 6th, up 23%.

Full Year 2008 Top 50 Ranking Table below.

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VW Golf

* See the Top 80 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

After two years of chaos, the European models ranking is back to stability – albeit rocked by the GFC – with only 2 models sharing the #1 spot throughout the year.

The VW Golf is only one of 2 models in the Top 10 to see its sales increase year-on-year with 461,620 units, up 6%. It is the best-selling car in Europe for the first time since 2004 – for the 21st year overall since 1983 – and grabs the top spot in January and from April onwards. This return to shape late in the 5th gen’s career could be in part due to the addition of a station wagon. The 6th gen launch in November should make things even easier for the model in 2009.

Peugeot 207

The Peugeot 207′s reign over the European market will have lasted only one short year, like the 206 in 2003. It is #2 with 406,740 sales, down 7% on 2011, and was still #1 only in February and March. In third place, the Ford Focus stays solid with 364,226 units (-10%), followed by the Opel Corsa.

Audi A4

Two models broke into the monthly Top 10 for the very first time this year. The Audi A4 was up there from July to October, and took advantage of a traditionally messy August to get up to a fantastic 2nd place , equalling the ‘large car’ record set by the Opel Vectra in August 1997… It finishes the year at a brilliant #10 with a record 256,349 units, up 16% and 7 spots on 2011. The Skoda Fabia also entered the exclusive monthly Top 10 circle in August when it sold 14,131 units, and finished 2008 at #17.

Among newcomers in the European Top 50 this year, let’s notice the Peugeot 308 landing directly at #13 for its first full year, the Fiat 500 up to #22 with 177,680 sales, the Nissan Qashqai up 23 spots and 61% to #29 at 144,879 units, the Renault Twingo new gen up 48% to #32 and the VW Tiguan landing at #48 with 92,638 sales for its first full year.

Previous year: Europe 2007: Peugeot 207 edges VW Golf out

Next year: Europe 2009: VW Golf and Ford Fiesta dominate

Full Year 2008 Top 80, every Monthly Top 10 Ranking Tables and every model sales below.

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Ford Focus

* See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

The Spanish car market is hit full frontal by the GFC, down 28% and over 450,000 units in 2008 at 1,161,154 registrations. The fight for the top spot is extremely tight this year, and is won by the Ford Focus, best-selling model in Spain for the 2nd year in a row at 46,005 sales and 4% share.

Seat Ibiza

That’s only 195 units above the new genenration Seat Ibiza at 45,810 units and 3.9%. Not far behind in 3rd place comes the Peugeot 207 with 44,098 sales and 3.8% share.

Peugeot 207

Peugeot 308

For its first full year of sales, the Peugeot 308 is up to a shiny 4th place with 34,172 sales and 2.9%, ahead of the Seat Leon, stable at a best-ever #5 with 2.8% market share. The VW Golf reaches its best-ever year-end position in Spain at #6, ahead of the Renault Megane. Notice two Audis in the Top 20: the Audi A4 at #16 and the Audi A3 at #17.

Full Year 2008 Top 100 Ranking Table below.

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Kia Cee’d

* See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

Good year for the Slovenian market, up 5% at 68,533 registrations. The Renault Clio keeps its title but sees its market share drop sharply to 6.6% with 4,553 sales. The Fiat Punto climbs to #2 with a stable 3.9% share and 2,696 sales, just ahead of the Peugeot 207 at 2,627 sales.

The Opel Astra, 4th at 3.7%, and Renault Megane, 5th at 3.5%, both progress significantly, ahead of the Opel Corsa and VW Golf. The only new entrant in the Top 10 is the Kia Cee’d at #8, up 187% and 19 spots with 1,788 units sold.

Full Year 2008 Top 50 Ranking Table below.

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Honda Fit

* See the Top 30 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

After starting with a bang in November 07, the Honda Fit generation 2 continues to dominate the Japanese sales ranking, on top 10 months out of 12, peaking at 25,933 sales in March and finishing the year at 174,910 sales, up 50%. It is the second year after 2002 that the Honda Fit is the best selling car in Japan.

The Toyota Corolla drops to 2nd at a still respectable 144,051 units, down only 2% year-on-year. It was #1 in October and November 08, the very last two months on top for the Corolla nameplate after 40 years of domination. The Toyota Vitz is up 2% in 3rd place with 123,337 sales.

Toyota Crown

Relaunched this year, the Toyota Crown gets a boost and jumps 10 spots to the 4th position with 74,904 sales (+33%). In 5th, the 5-year-old Toyota Prius continues its age-defying prowess and gains 6 spots and 25% year-on-year to reach 73,110 sales. The Nissan Serena and Toyota Passo resist in 6th and 7th place.

Toyota Prius

Two all-new models break into the Top 30 this year. The Honda Freed, launched in May, is #16 at 50,646 sales and ranked #4 from July to November. The Toyota Vellfire, a sporty version of the Toyota Alphard, is #23 at 38,969 sales and peaked at #6 in November. Notice the Toyota iQ, launched in October, ranking #21 in December.

You can check every monthly Top 30 for 2008 here.

Previous year: Japan 2007: 37th year of Corolla domination (it’s the last one)

Next year: Japan 2009: Toyota Prius takes off, #1 at 200,000+ sales

Full Top 30 Ranking Table: click on ‘Read more’ below the Honda Freed pic.

Honda Freed

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Toyota Innova

The Top 4 best selling cars in Vietnam are unchanged over 2007 and 2008: the Toyota Innova keeps the pole position by far, with record sales numbers: 12,433 units and 15.5% in 2007 and 14,947 units and 13.6% in 2008. The Honda Civic has a stellar two years, both at 5.3% share in 2nd place.

Honda Civic

The Daewoo Captiva is #3 for its first year of sales in 2007 with 3,594 sales and 4.5%, and it stays there in 2008 at 3,943 units and 3.6%, followed each year by the Ford Everest at 4% then 3.3%. The Toyota Vios and Camry exchange places in 5th and 6th whereas the Toyota Corolla Altis jumps 111% from 2007 to 2008 to land in 8th position.

Full Top 20 Ranking Tables for 2007 and 2008: click on ‘Read more’ below the Captiva pic.

Daewoo Captiva

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* See the Top 100 best selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at the end of the post *

The main event in 2008 in the Swiss car market is the constant progression of the Skoda Octavia which is starting to threaten the multi-decade-long leadership of the VW Golf… Over 12 months the Golf drops to 3% of the market at 8,627 sales whereas the Octavia goes up to 2.5% share at 7,213 sales.

The BMW 3 Series drops to 3rd place, whereas the Audi A4 stays 4th, both models grabbing a 2.2% market share. The Peugeot 207, 5th at 1.9%, exchange spots with the VW Touran, #6 at 1.8%, whereas the Fiat 500 delivers a remarkable entry into the Top 10 in 8th place with 4,849 sales and 1.7%.

Other great performances include the BMW 1 Series up 11 spots at #15 and the Mercedes C Class up 18 spots at #17.

Previous year: Switzerland 2007: VW Golf, BMW 3 Series and Skoda Octavia on podium

Next year: Switzerland 2009: VW Golf and Skoda Octavia up, VW Tiguan #11

Full Year 2008 Top 100 Ranking Table below.

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Skoda Octavia

* See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks Mariusz *

The Polish market is up 9% in 2008 at 344,270 registrations, and the models podium stay unchanged compared to 2007. The Skoda Fabia leads the way for the 4th consecutive year with 14,717 sales and 4.3%, however with sales down 14% year-on-year, its margin over its big sister the Skoda Octavia has reduced dramatically, from 4,740 in 2007 to just 358 units this year… The Octavia is up 15% to 14,357 units and 4.2% this year…

Below the two Skodas, the Toyota Yaris and Ford Focus both progress albeit slower than the market at +5% and +4% respectively and therefore see their market share drop slightly to 3.6% and 3.1%. The Fiat Panda is down one spot and 17% to #5 while the Fiat Grande Punto is up 5% but stays 6th with 8,699 sales.

Notice the arrival in the Top 10 of the Kia Cee’d, up 5 spots and 35% to #9 with 7,756 sales and 2.3%. The Toyota Auris is also up by 26% to #12 but is threatened by the VW Golf in excellent shape at +42% to #13. Other goo performers this year include the Ford Mondeo up 75% to #16 and the Nissan Qashqai up 49% to #34.

Previous year: Poland 2007: Skoda Fabia and Octavia in command

Full Year 2008 Top 50 Ranking Table below.

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