Europe July 2012: Peugeot 208 in Top 10 for the first time at #5

Peugeot 208 

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

New car sales in Europe are down a worrying 8% year-on-year in July to 970,271 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 8,035,439 units, down 5% on 2011. There are only two models in the Top 10 losing less than 10% year-on-year so not a good look this month… The VW Golf keeps the lead by far but is at -17% to 32,403 sales, followed by the VW Polo at -23% and the Ford Fiesta at -11%. Year-to-date, the Golf is #1 at -5% ahead of the Fiesta (-8%) and Polo (-13%).

Vauxhall Astra

In spite of sales down 20% on July 2011 to 18,124, the Opel Astra is up to #4, its best European ranking since… September 2010! But the big event this month in Europe is the arrival of the Peugeot 208 in the Top 10 for the very first time, only 4 months after its predecessor the 207’s last Top 10 showing in March. It sells 17,986 units this month, adding up to 55,598 year-to-date and is already the best-selling French car on the continent. For reference, the 206-207 changeover took one less month back in 2006, with the 206 last appearing in the European Top 10 in April and the 207 breaking into it for the first time in July.

Nissan Qashqai

Another great performer this month is the Nissan Qashqai, reaching its highest-ever ranking in Europe at #6 with 16,750 sales, down 6% year-on-year. The Qashqai is now #8 year-to-date with 134,166 units, up 2% and the only model in the YTD Top 10 to see its sales increase on 2011. It is the 6th time the Qashqai ever ranks within the European Top 10 after July 2010 (#9), September 2011 (#10), January 2012 (#9), March 2012 (#7) and June 2012 (#9). This is potentially the highest monthly ranking ever reached by a Japanese model in Europe.

Previous month: Europe June 2012: Opel Corsa #2 for first time in 18 months

One year ago: Europe July 2011: Ford Focus up to #4

Full July 2012 Top 10 Ranking Table below.