Denmark Full Year 2012: VW Up! most popular in record market

The VW Up! is the first model to sell over 10,000 units in a single year in Denmark.

* See the Top 100 best-selling models and Top 30 brands by clicking on the title! *

In spite of a month of December down 30%, the Danish new car market establishes a new all-time record in 2012, up 0.4% on an already record year in 2011 to 170,763 registrations. Denmark is also potentially the only country in the world where an all-new model directly lands in pole position: the VW Up!, launched in February, takes the lead in March and ranks #1 for a total of 7 months in 2012. It peaks at 1,640 sales and 10% share in November, most probably the highest monthly volume ever reached by any model in the history of automobile in Denmark. The VW Up! finishes the year at 10,632 sales and 6.2% share, to my knowledge a new annual volume record and the first time a model sells more than 10,000 units in a single year, the previous best being the Toyota Carina in 1994 (9,635 units).

Toyota Aygo

In fact all 3 Bratislava sisters have lodged world-best results in Denmark: the Skoda Citigo even ranking #2 for 3 consecutive months between October and December and the Seat Mii reaching #7 in August… All-in-all, the 3 Bratislava-built models add up to 16,348 units and 9.6% share this year vs. 16,854 and 9.9% for the Kolin sisters, also in record shape: the Toyota Aygo is up 53% to #2, the Peugeot 107 up 15% to #4 and the Citroen C1 up 55% to #5. The Kia Picanto, up 73% and 11 ranks to #3 and the Chevrolet Spark, leader in 2011 but down to #7 this year, complete a Top 7 exclusively composed of mini cars.

Kia Picanto

Extravagant taxes have definitely moulded the Danish car market towards the smallest possible formats indeed: out of the Top 25 most popular models in the country this year, only 2 are not mini or small cars: the Toyota Avensis at #10 (-4%) and the Ford Focus at #23 (-12%). Other great performers in 2012 include the Toyota Yaris up 79% to #8, Kia Rio up 1597% to #9, Ford Fiesta up 5 spots to #11, Renault Clio up 14 to #14 and Fiat Panda up 17 to #24. Finally, notice the Peugeot 208 arriving at #20 with 2,642 sales.

Previous post: Denmark December 2012: Fiat 500 on podium

Previous year: Denmark Full Year 2011: Chevrolet Spark leads in record year

Full Year 2012 Top 100 models and Top 30 brands Ranking Tables below.