Europe March 2013: Nissan Qashqai and BMW 3 Series strike again

Nissan Qashqai

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No sign of recovery for new car sales in Europe, down 10% year-on-year both in March to 1,354,083 registrations and year-to-date at 3,107,087 units. This month while the UK resists again at +6%, Germany experiences the biggest drop at -17% and almost 100,000 sales lower than March 2012. The VW Golf is the most popular model on the continent once again and loses slightly less ground than the market at -8% to 48,935, while the other two models on the podium are boosted by the traditional mega-new-license-plate-month in the UK: the Ford Fiesta is up 4 spots on February to #2 but down 13% and the Opel Corsa is up 6 to #3 but down 14%.

BMW 3 Series

Boosted by the 4th generation, the Renault Clio is up again year-on-year at +9% in 4th position with 31,623 units and remains #3 year-to-date. Another outstanding month for the Nissan Qashqai at a best-ever 5th place for the second month in a row thanks to 29,116 sales, down just 4% on March 2012. The Peugeot 208 is down 4 ranks on last month but up 591% year-on-year as the model was launched at that time last year. Finally notice the BMW 3 Series pointing its bonnet in the Top 10 for the 4th time in the last 12 months at #10 with 21,263 sales, up 16% year-on-year and an even more impressive 31% year-to-date.

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One year ago: Europe March 2012: Nissan Qashqai and Toyota Yaris break records

Full March 2013 Top 10 models and brands Ranking Tables below.