Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

The VW Golf III sold 43,838 units in March 1993 in Germany alone, a record.

* See the direct links to these 8 Historical Data posts by clicking on the title! *

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Thanks to STAC and a thorough exploration of my personal (handwritten) archives I can now share with you more detail about some of the biggest European car markets in the nineties. For Germany, I now have a monthly Top 15 models ranking for the whole of 1993, there is now a full Top 50 for 1996 in the UK, for Italy I have a Top 50 for 1993, 1994 and 1996 and a monthly Top 15 for 1993 and for Spain there is now a full Top 50 for 1993, 1994 and 1996 which were missing years on BSCB… (Note: The budget car insurance link is brought to you by expressinsurance.co.uk)

What I learnt:

The VW Golf III grabbed a huge 14.5% of the German market in January 1993 and sold 43,838 units in March, its highest monthly volume in Germany ever. Note that at the time, Golf III sales were separated from the Golf II (Cabriolet) and Vento sedan, unlike today where all generations, the Golf Plus and Jetta are counted together, making this 1993 record even more impressive.

The Renault 19 was a regular Top 10 ranker in Germany in 1992-1993

The Renault 19 ranked #6 in March 1993 in Germany with 12,385 sales and 3.4% share, the ranking, volume and market share records at the time for any foreign model in the country. This record would last for 16 years until a scrappage scheme-boosted Fiat Panda reached #4 and 12,457 sales in March 2009, while the ‘half-German’ record of #2 at a5,453 units and 3.9% share was hit by the Skoda Fabia in March 2009 also.

Did you know the Fiat Uno survived as the Innocenti Mille in Italy up until November 1997?

In Italy a couple of lesser-known models by now-defunct brand Innocenti found their way into the annual Top 50 over that period: the Innocenti Elba, a rebadged Fiat Uno station wagon, ranks #43 in 1993 with 7,164 sales while the Innocenti Mille, a rebadged Fiat Uno hatchback (itself discontinued in 1995) ranks #45 in 1996 with 7,979 units. Both models were imported from Brazil. The Innocenti brand would be killed off with the Mille in November 1997.

The Hyundai Accent was the best-selling Asian model in Spain in 1996, beating all the Japanese

Last interesting bit of trivia: in 1996 and for the first time in Spain, the best-selling Asian model is not Japanese but Korean: it’s the Hyundai Accent ranking #29 with 8,319 sales. It is one of 4 Koreans (vs. 6 Japanese) in the Top 50: the Daewoo Nexia is #33, the Daewoo Aranos (aka Espero) is #37 and the Hyundai Lantra is #48. The #1 Japanese that year is the Honda Civic at #31.

The direct links to Germany, UK, Italy and Spain Historical Data are below.

Germany Historical data:

New/revised posts:

Germany 1993: BMW 3 Series on the podium for the first time (now with monthly Top 15)

All Historical posts:

Germany 1946-2011 Historical Data

UK Historical Data:

New/revised posts:

UK 1996: Ford Fiesta edges Ford Escort out (now with Top 50)

All Historical posts:

UK 1965-2011 Historical Data

Italy Historical Data:

New/revised posts:

Italy 1993: Last year of reign for the Fiat Uno (now with Top 50 and monthly Top 15)

Italy 1994: Fiat Punto takes control (now with Top 50)

Italy 1996: Fiat Punto and Bravo/a dominate (now with Top 50)

All Historical posts:

Italy 1956-2011 Historical Data

Spain Historical Data:

New/revised posts:

Spain 1993: Opel Astra new best-seller (now with Top 50)

Spain 1994: Ford Escort takes the lead (now with Top 50)

Spain 1996: Seat Ibiza in pole position for the first time

All Historical posts:

Spain 1973-2011 Historical Data

Many thanks to STAC for sharing the 1990s data!