Europe 4 months 2014: Fiat 500 inches closer to Top 10 at #11

Fiat Abarth 500 (US model shown)

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Now that we have explored in detail the European models ranking for April we look into the evolution of the year-to-date sales charts to extract longer-term trends. As the year progresses the models ranking cements itself and large month-on-month variations become rarer. Illustrating this, the highest year-to-date ranking change this month is outside the Top 10: after breaking into the monthly European Top 10 for the first time in March and helped by another impressive month (#11 in April), the Fiat 500 passes the BMW 3 Series to establish itself at #11 year-to-date, the highest the Nuova 500 ever ranked in a year-to-date European ranking, an outstanding performance given this car is almost 7 years old! The Top 10 is still a fair distance away though: the Audi A3 is 7,000 sales above and regularly beats the 500 in the monthly charts.

The Citroen C3 is back inside the Top 20 this month.

Reaching a best-ever #12 in April earns the VW Tiguan to improve its year-to-date ranking by two spots to #15 with 55,341 sales (+15%), kicking the Fiat Panda down two to #17 (-8%) while the Renault Captur remains at a very impressive #16. Catching up on lost time as 2013 was disrupted by strikes at its French factory, the Citroen C3 overtakes the Peugeot 2008 to reclaim a spot inside the European Top 20 at #20. Other notable changes inside the Top 50 include the BMW 1 Series (#22) and Peugeot 308 (#23) both up one rank, the Renault Mégane up 3 to #26, the Dacia Duster up two to #29, Seat Leon up one to #31, Mercedes A-Class down 4 to #32 and Renault Scénic up 3 to #36.

Skoda Rapid

Further down, the Skoda Rapid is slowly but surely creeping up the ladder, up a further 3 spots this month to #57 and could potentially break into the YTD Top 50 in the next couple of months, making it 3 Skodas in the Top 50 after the Octavia (#9) and Fabia (#34). The Nissan Note could do the same: it is up a massive 135% year-on-year in Europe so far this year at #60, while its little sister the Micra is up a more modest but still impressive 53% at #63. Interesting bounce of the Volvo XC60 at +39% to #77, a more logical one for the Toyota RAV4 given the new model is still finding its mark at +40% at #81 and the Dacia Logan takes advantage of its full revamp to gain 212% and reappear in the Top 100 at #84 even though these figures don’t include Russia where it is very strong.

The BMW 4 Series has not cannibalised the 3 Series so far.

There is one all-new models in the Top 100: the BMW 4 Series lands at #98 with 14,715 sales, definitely more than the 3,560 units the 3 Series has lost over the period. The Suzuki SX4 S-Cross is close enough at #105 (+3%) while the Mercedes GLA should join the Top 100 club very soon: thanks to a #96 ranking in April it gains 25 spots year-to-date to #131 with just under 8,000 sales. Notice also the Mercedes S-Class up 202% to #149, the Toyota Corolla up 265% to #152, Tesla Model S at #179 with 3,458 units and the Maserati Ghibli at #227 and 1,477 sales.

In the brands ranking, Volkswagen continues to reign supreme with 538,738 sales, up 3% on 2013. Among the Top 20 most popular carmakers, only Hyundai loses ground at -3% and 7 brands manage a 10%+ increase year-on-year: Ford (+10%), Renault (+11%), Skoda (+18%), Nissan (+10%), Dacia (+40%), Mazda (+26%) and Suzuki (+17%). Notice also Jeep up 24%, Lexus up 34%, Tesla up 19 spots to #34, Maserati up 425%, Infiniti up 35% and Bentley up 35%.

Previous post: Europe April 2014: Discover the Top 334 models and Top 55 brands

Previous month: Europe First Quarter 2014: Peugeot 2008 in Top 20, Leon above Ibiza

One year ago: Europe April 2013: Audi A3 breaks into Top 10 for the first time!

Full January-April 2014 Top 350 models and Top 60 brands Ranking Tables below.