Best Selling Cars – Matt's blog

BMW 3 Series

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

The European new car market continues to struggle at -6% year-on-year in April to 1,069,243 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 4,507,515 units, down 7% on 2011. The Top 2 best-seller stay unchanged: the VW Golf leads with 37,151 sales but is down 13% on April 2011 while the Ford Fiesta is down 9% at #2 with 25,927 units. Like in the 2012 year-to-date ranking, the VW Polo rounds up the podium, but with 24,193 sales it is down a worrying 23% year-on-year.

Fiat Panda

In spite of a 8% fall the Renault Clio is up 8 spots on March to #4, followed by the Opel Corsa (-16%), Astra (-18%) and Ford Focus (-6%). Only two Top 10 models progress year-on-year, both thanks to new generations boosting their sales: the Fiat Panda is up 3% to 17,268 sales and #8, only its 2nd time since May 2010 with last February and its highest European ranking since February 2010 when it reached #7. The best performer this month is the BMW 3 Series taking advantage of an impressive 2nd place in Germany to reach #9 in Europe with 17,171 sales and 1.6% share, its first time in the Top 10 since December 2008.

Previous month: Europe March 2012: Nissan Qashqai and Toyota Yaris break records

One year ago: Europe April 2011: VW Passat shines

Full April 2012 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

Read more…

Nissan Qashqai

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

Car sales in Europe are down 7% both in March at 1,497,855 registrations and year-to-date at 3,433,957 units. Below the VW Golf very solid at 52,933 sales, up 1% year-on-year, the Ford Fiesta is back into 2nd place at 47,888 units ahead of the Opel Corsa with 38,809 sales, both pushed by the traditionally strong month of March in the UK due to the new number plates. But the top of the ranking is not what has made this month a historical month in Europe…

If you’ve been checking out Best Selling Cars Blog regularly over the last couple of weeks you saw it coming: delivering best-ever performances in Germany, France, the UK, Ireland (#1), Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland, Czech Republic and #2 in Spain, the Nissan Qashqai logically reaches its highest ever position in Europe at a fantastic 7th place with 30,237 sales, by far its strongest volume ever. 5 years after its original launch, this is the culmination (so far) of a crazy bet from Nissan that hasn’t stopped surprising by its exceptional success: the Nissan Qashqai is now the highest ranking Japanese model ever in Europe!

Toyota Yaris

But wait there’s more: helped by a record-breaking showing in the UK where it reached a best-ever 8th position, the Toyota Yaris breaks into the European monthly Top 10 for the very first time at #10 with 22,856 sales and 1.5% market share, up 18% year-on-year and bringing its year-to-date total to 48,789 units, up 13% and close to the Top 10 while it ranked #27 in 2011. It is the first time ever that 2 Japanese models rank within the European monthly Top 10 simultaneously! Interestingly they are both produced in Europe: the Qashqai in the UK and the Yaris in France…

I told you it was a historical month…

Previous month: Europe February 2012: Ford Focus on podium, Fiat Panda in Top 10

One year ago: Europe March 2011: VW Golf strong, Fiat Punto back in Top 10

Full March 2012 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

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Ford Focus

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

The European car market slips down by 9.5% year-on-year in February at 925,987 registrations, bogged down by France (-20%) and Italy (-19%). The VW Golf and Polo dominate the models ranking for the 5th consecutive month, dipping down slower than the market at 32,724 units (-4%) and 24,254 sales (-6%) respectively. For only the second time in the last 40 months, the Ford Focus climbs onto the European podium with 19,681 sales, up a massive 20% year-on-year.

Fiat Panda

The Focus beats its little sister the Fiesta for the first time since last August but stays #4 year-to-date at 41,949 units, up 13%. The only other Top 10 model to progress this month is the VW Passat, valiant in 7th position with 16,622 sales, up 0.4% and bringing its year-to-date total to 34,317 units, up 8%. Thanks to the new generation already doing wonders in Italy and Austria, the Fiat Panda is back in the European Top 10 for the first time since May 2010 at #10 with 15,785 sales, down 3% on February 2011.

Most recent post: Europe Full Year 2011: Top 318 All models ranking now available!

Previous month: Europe January 2012: Skoda Octavia in Top 10 for the first time

One year ago: Europe February 2011: Renault Clio #2, VW Passat back in Top 10

Full February 2012 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

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Kia Sportage

* See the Top 318 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks Tuga & Lancia Lover *

You can see my previous Europe Full Year 2011 Top 40 post here 

You can see my original Europe Full Year 2011 Top 10 post here.

Thanks to Tuga and Lancia Lover I can now share with you a Top 318 all models ranking for the whole of Europe! You are already familiar with the Top 40 so I will skip directly below. 3 additional models make themselves noticed in the Top 50: the Audi A1 lands in 42nd place for its first full year of sales with 97,903 sales, up 289% on 2010, while the Peugeot 508 is the best-selling all new model in Europe this year, arriving at #48 and 85,699 units. Lastly the Audi A6 is up 15 spots and 21% on 2010 at #49.

Infiniti M

Great performers within the rest of the the European Top 100 are the Alfa Romeo Giulietta up 138% and 53 spots to #56, the Hyundai ix35 up 56% and 29 ranks to #58, Citroen DS3 up 37% and 15 spots to #60, Kia Sportage up 131% and 46 ranks to #69, BMW X3 up 170% and 54 spots to #77, Mini Countryman up 335% and 91 ranks to #83, Mitsubishi ASX up to #91, Hyundai ix20 up to #95 and Volvo V60 up to #99.

Further down, notice the Citroen DS4 landing directly at #137, the Chevrolet Orlando at #141, the Audi A7 up 447% to #146, Mercedes CLS up 338% to #152, the Lexus CT ranking #161 and by far best-selling Lexus for its first year in market, the Range Rover Evoque already at #181 with 12,068 sales, the VW Up! at #229 and Infiniti M up 315% to #287.

Nissan Leaf

Fully electric cars make a discreet appearance in this year’s ranking but 2012 should see some of them really take off: the Mitsubishi i is #250 with 2,608 sales, followed by the Peugeot iOn at #258 with 1,926 units, the Citroen C-Zero at #260 and 1,830 sales, the Nissan Leaf at #264 with 1,726 units and the Opel Ampera at #304 and 304 sales.

The DR Motor DR1 manufactured in Italy is once again the best-selling Chinese model in Europe but it has lost its spark at #259 with 1,886 units, down 40%. It is now threatened by the Great Wall Hover at #263 with 1,744 sales, up a massive 160%, while Geely (no model split available) ranks #271 with 1,409 units. The only other Chinese entries are the DR Motor DR5 (aka Chery Tiggo) at #284 and the Great Wall Steed at #285.

Lamborghini Aventador

Let’s conclude this article by observing that the Porsche Panamera is up 13% to #207, the Bentley Continental GT/GTC is up 10% to #273, the Bentley Mulsanne up 242% to #307 and the Lamborghini Aventador sells its very first 63 units over the continent to rank #310.

Most recent Europe data: January 2012: Skoda Octavia in Top 10 for the first time

Previous year: Europe 2011 All-models Top 371 ranking (source JATO)

Full Year 2011 Top 318 Ranking Table below.

Read more…

Dacia Duster

* See the Top 40 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks Tuga *

There is now a Top 318 All-models ranking available! Click here to see

You can see my original Europe Full Year 2011 Top 10 post here.

Thanks to Tuga I can now share with you a Top 40 models ranking for the entire European market. Unlike my last Full Year 2011 update which was based on JATO figures, this ranking was sourced on Autonews and include more countries, which means the top of the ranking is actually quite different from the one I published last month.

If the VW Golf stays leader by far with 493,855 sales (-2%), the VW Polo drops to #3 behind the Ford Fiesta at 371,454 units vs. 372,977. The Opel Corsa is still #4, but is now followed by the Opel Astra, Ford Focus and Renault Clio. The Renault Megane is above the Peugeot 207 and the VW Passat is still the big winner at #10, up 10 spots and 43% on 2010.

Mercedes C-Class

But where it gets fascinating is below the Top 10 as these figures are very rare to come across… Down 17% on last year the Fiat Punto loses its spot in the Top 10 to #11, followed closely by the Nissan Qashqai at #12 with 216,970 sales. The Skoda Octavia is up 2 spots to #14, the Mercedes C-Class up 17% and 9 ranks to #16, passing its archenemy the BMW 3 Series, while the Skoda Fabia and Seat Ibiza are both up 5 spots to #18 and #19 respectively.

BMW 5 Series

Outside the Top 20, great performers include the BMW 5 Series up 30% and 12 ranks to #24, the Dacia Duster landing directly at #26 with 141,961 units, the Opel Meriva up 22% and 8 spots to #32, the Ford C-Max up to #33, VW Touran up 12 ranks to #34, Citroen C4 and Nissan Juke up to #38 and #39.

Most recent Europe data: January 2012: Skoda Octavia in Top 10 for the first time

Previous year: Europe 2011 All-models Top 371 ranking (source JATO)

Previous year (take 2): Europe 2011 Top 50 ranking (source Autonews)

Full Year 2011 Top 40 Ranking Table below.

Read more…

Skoda Octavia

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

Slow start of 2012 for the European market, down 7% year-on-year in January to 1,003,814 registrations. The podium is unchanged vs. December and the Full Year 2011 ranking with the VW Golf in the lead at 3.6% share ahead of the VW Polo at 2.6% and the Ford Fiesta at 2.4%. The Ford Focus reaches its best position since last August at #4 with 22,316 sales and 2.2% share, up 7% on January 2011.

Nissan Qashqai

The VW Passat is also up year-on-year at +15% thanks to 17,694 units sold at #7 but this month’s best performances are found at the bottom of the Top 10: the Nissan Qashqai breaks into the Top 10 for only the third time ever after July 2010 and September 2011 and reaches its highest ever European ranking at #9 with 16,881 sales. The Skoda Octavia for its part appears in the European Top 10 for the very first time at #10 with 16,565 units, up 22% year-on-year.

Previous post: Europe Full Year 2011: VW Polo up to second spot for the first time

One year ago: Europe January 2011: VW Golf and Polo dominate

Full January 2012 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

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The VW Polo delivers its highest ever European ranking in 2011

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

There is now a Top 318 All-models ranking available! Click here to see

The VW Golf is the best-selling car in Europe for the fourth consecutive year with 484,547 sales, down just 2% and peaking at 53,055 units in March. It is the 26th time in the last 30 years that the VW Golf leads the European models ranking. The Golf was #1 every month this year, and as at December it has been leading the market for 21 consecutive months, the last time it wasn’t in pole position being March 2010. It has been #1 for 43 of the last 45 months! The Golf is #1 in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway, and possibly Luxembourg.

VW Golf

The fight for the 2nd place was very contested this year and the winner is the VW Polo, reaching its highest ranking in Europe since the launch of the Polo nameplate in 1975! It is also the first time ever Volkswagen holds the first 2 spots in the European ranking. The Polo finishes the year at 356,490 units, stable on 2010. It peaked at 39,311 units in March and was #2 for 7 months this year. The Polo is #1 in the Netherlands.

Ford Fiesta

Down one spot and 13% to 348,365 sales, the Ford Fiesta peaked at 50,534 units in March and still managed to rank #2 four times in 2011. It is #1 in the UK. Up one rank to #4 in spite of sales down 2%, the Opel Corsa sells 313,325 units this year and ranked within the podium 3 times, beating the Polo twice. The Renault Clio is down 13% to #5 and 294,172 sales but is the fourth model to manage to rank at least #2 this year – in February.

VW Passat

Both the Opel Astra (-1%) and Ford Focus (+7%) gain one spot to #6 and #7 respectively, while the Peugeot 207 loses the most ground (-21% to #8) and the Renault Megane stays #9. The best performer in the Top 10 is by far the VW Passat, up a huge 46% and 14 ranks on 2010 to land in 10th position with 233,330 sales. It peaked at #5 in April, the first time Volkswagen ever placed 3 models in the European Top 5 in any given month… Notice also the Nissan Qashqai appearing in the Top 10 in September for only the 2nd time ever.

Previous month: Europe November 2011: Opel Corsa up to third place

Previous year: Europe Full Year 2010: VW Golf leader ahead of Ford Fiesta and VW Polo

Full Year, December 2011 and every monthly Top 10 Ranking Tables below.

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Opel Corsa

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

Up until now, the European car market had been holding itself rather well given the continent’s economic situation and currency crisis. But November is down 5%, with Germany the only Big Five country to register a year-on-year increase (+3%), at 1,043,317 units, bringing the year-to-date total down to -1.2% and 12,510,265 units.

Volkswagen keeps its hold on the models ranking, placing the VW Golf at #1 with a solid 3.6% share thanks to 37,059 sales – identical to its 2011 year-to-date market share at 449,882 units, and the VW Polo at #2 with 2.7% and 28,413 sales, slightly above its 2.6% 2011 YTD share. Up two ranks on October, the Opel Corsa climbs on the podium for the second time in the last 3 months but without the help of an inflated UK market this time, at 23,886 sales and 2.3%.

Other good performers this month include the Opel Astra, up 3% year-on-year at #6, the VW Passat up a massive 116% on November 2011 to #7 and 19,432 sales. The Ford Focus is down a worrying 15% year-on-year in spite of the arrival of the new generation in dealerships in the meantime.

Previous month: Europe October 2011: VW Polo back to second place

Full November 2011 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

Read more…

VW Polo

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

In the midst of a Euro currency turmoil, the European car market holds itself pretty well, slowing down only by 1% both year-on-year in October and year-to-date at 1,044,552 and 11,467,336 registrations respectively. The VW Golf is the uncontested leader in Europe with 38,076 sales and 3.6% market share, its 18th consecutive month in the European pole position. The Golf is also #1 year-to-date at 413,156 units and has been the best-seller in Europe for 38 of the last 40 months, only ranking #2 in March ’09 and ’10…

In second place, the VW Polo is up 2 spots on September with 29,199 sales and 2.8%, also claiming back the #2 spot in the 2011 year-to-date ranking at 301,721 units, passing the Ford Fiesta, #3 both in October at 26,553 sales and year-to-date at 299,521 units. The Renault Clio, boosted by an exceptional performance in its native France, ranks 4th this month with 23,514 sales but is still #5 YTD behind the Opel Corsa. Notice the VW Passat up to an excellent 6th spot, its second-best score in the last 6 years…

Previous month: see the European September 2011 Top 303 best-selling models here.

Full October 2011 Top 10 Ranking Table below.

Read more…

The Lamborghini Aventador makes its first appearance in the ranking at #305 with 22 sales.

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 309 best-selling models! - see ‘Read more’, thanks Lancia Lover *

Car sales in Europe are up 0.8% year-on-year in September at 1,266,521 registrations, bringing the 2011 total to 10,424,616 units, down 0.8%. The country mix is heavily biased towards the UK traditionally in September (being one of the 2 yearly new licence plates months) and this has an impact on the models ranking. The VW Golf is unassailable in pole position with 47,731 sales and 3.8% share, up 8% year-on-year, reinforcing its 2011 leadership at 372,288 units and 3.6%.

Nissan Qashqai

The Ford Fiesta is up 2 spots on August to #2 at a strong 2.8% share and reclaims the 2011 #2 position from the VW Polo, down to #4 this month. The Opel Corsa, helped by its English score, ranks 3rd at 2.7%. The Ford Focus is down 2 spots on last month at #5 but improves its market share to a very respectable 2.5% thanks to 31,421 sales.

The VW Passat continues its good run in 8th place at 24,633 units, up 53% year-on-year. For the first time since July 2010 and only the second time ever, the Nissan Qashqai manages to rank within the European Top 10 at #10 with 20,140 sales and 1.6% share. For the first time since June 2006 (the model was launched in April 2006), the Peugeot 207 is out of the Top 10.

BMW 6 Series

Further down the 9 months 2011 ranking, the Nissan Juke is the best-selling newcomer at #40 and in the premium small car category notice the Mini at #35 (-12%), the Audi A1 at #41 and the Citroen DS3 at #56. The Audi A7 is up a massive 110 spots over 2010 to #134, the Mercedes CLS is up 86 spots to #143 and the BMW 6 Series is up 31 ranks to #230.

As far as Chinese models are concerned, the DR1 leads the way again at #245 (-4%) but is now followed by the Great Wall Hover at #265 (up 57 spots and 105% on 2010), the DR5 at #272 (-65%) and the Great Wall Steed at #273 (-41%).

Previous month: see the European August 2011 Top 10 best-selling models here.

Full September 2011 Top 309 Ranking Table below.

Read more…