Netherlands: 1982-2023 Historical Data now available

September 11, 2011
Matt Gasnier
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1985 Opel Kadett

The direct links to 23 Historical posts are below.

Thanks to www.autoweek.nl and to Andrea & Vavon, I am now able to share with you Historical Data for the Dutch car market since 1982. From 1983 onwards there is at least a Top 100 best-sellers ranking available, extending to ALL models ranking and every monthly Top 100 from January 2003 onwards…

For at least 20 years, an Opel model was the best-seller in the Netherlands: two generations of Opel Kadett from 1982 to 1991 and two generations of Opel Astra from 1992 to 2000. In 2001 the VW Golf put an end to that domination to then leave way to the Peugeot 206 and 307 from 2002 to 2005. In 2002 and 2003, Peugeot even delivered a 1-2 it has never achieved in France.

Opel lost the Netherlands’ best-selling brand title it held since 1969 (36 years!) in 2005 to VW and has not recovered it so far. The Opel Astra made a brief reappearance at #1 in 2006 in an increasingly fragmented market – all models under 3% share – to be replaced by the Peugeot 207 (2007 & 2008), VW Golf (2009, 2014 & 2016), Polo (2010, 2011 & 2018), Renault Mégane (2012), VW Up (2013), Peugeot 308 (2015) and Renault Clio (2017). The Tesla Model 3 made a splash when it directly took the lead in 2019, the Kia Niro then took the relay in 2020 and 2021 and the Peugeot 208 in 2022. Then the Tesla Model Y snapped the pole position in 2023.

Netherlands Historical Data:

Netherlands 1982-1986: Opel Kadett and Ford Escort dominate

Netherlands 1987-1991: Opel Kadett, Vectra and VW Golf on top

Netherlands 1992-2000: Opel Astra and VW Golf in the lead

Netherlands 2001: VW Golf ends 20-year+ Opel domination!

Netherlands 2002: Peugeot places 206 and 307 on top

Netherlands 2003-2005: Peugeot 307 in command

Netherlands 2006: Opel Astra reclaims pole position

Netherlands 2007-2008: Peugeot 207 most popular

Netherlands 2009: VW Golf and Toyota Aygo dominate

Netherlands 2010: VW Polo Number 1, Kolin sisters at +55%

Netherlands 2011: VW Polo and Renault Twingo on top