Europe July 2014: Nissan Qashqai hits best ranking in 16 months

Nissan Qashqai

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

European new car sales mark an 11th consecutive month of year-on-year gains in July at 1,081,195 registrations, up 5.4%. The year-to-date total now stands at 7,917,269 units after 7 months, up 5.8% on the same period last year. In the models charts, the VW Golf remains sovereign, even growing twice as fast as the market at +11% to 41,914 sales, almost 20,000 units above the second best-selling car… Talk about ultra-domination… Inside the Top 5, the Ford Fiesta (+6%), Renault Clio (+12%) and Opel Corsa (+17% thanks to run out prices on the outgoing model) also outperform, as opposed to the VW Polo, down 4% in spite of its mid-life facelift.

Skoda Octavia

Ousted by a record-breaking Renault Captur and the ever-young Fiat 500 last month, both the Skoda Octavia (up 35% yoy to #7) and Audi A3 (up 23% to #9) reclaim their traditional spot among the Top 10 most popular models on the continent in July. Notice also the Nissan Qashqai hitting its best European ranking since March 2013 at #6 and the Peugeot 208 down a harsh 10% to #10.

Audi is the 5th best-selling brand in Europe in July, above Peugeot and #1 premium.

In the brands ranking, the Top 4 best-sellers return to their year-to-date order this month with Volkswagen in the lead (+8%) ahead of Ford (+1%), Opel/Vauxhall (+8%) and Renault (+5%). Surprise in 5th place: Audi outsells Peugeot for the first time since last August to break into the Top 5 for only the third time in two years with 63,817 sales and 5.9% share (+8%) vs. 63,634 for the French manufacturer. The premium Germans are in great shape with Mercedes up 7% to #7 and BMW up 9% to #8. Finally, let’s salute the outstanding performance of Skoda, up 28% on July 2013 to 9th position with 51,876 units.

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Full July 2014 Top 10 models and brands Ranking Tables below.