Europe May 2012: Renault Megane back into Top 10

Renault Megane

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

New car sales in Europe are slowly sliding into recession, at -8% year-on-year in May to 1,164,071 registrations, with the UK the only market in the ‘Big 5’ to register year-on-year improvement. The 2012 year-to-date total now stands at 5,666,737 units, down 7% on 2011.  No surprises on top: the VW Golf leads the way again with 41,420 sales, down 13% on May 2011 and is followed by the Ford Fiesta at 28,611 units (-12%) and the Opel Corsa with 26,771 sales (-11%). The VW Polo is down one spot to #4 but stays #3 year-to-date.

In spite of the new generation now in cruising mode, the Ford Focus is down 16% year-on-year to #6 and 22,611 units and #5 year-to-date at -2%. Only one model sees its sales progress vs. May 2011: the Renault Megane, thanks to its facelift and extremely strong performances in Spain and the Netherlands where it ranked #1, is back in the Top 10 for the first time in 2012, up 3% to #7 with 21,817 sales. The Fiat Panda is #9 with 19,300 units, down just 0.5% year-on-year.

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Full May 2012 Top 10 Ranking Table below.