Greece Full Year 2012: Citroen C3 takes off in worst year since ’88

Citroen C3

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

The freefall continues for new car sales in Greece: after dropping by 17% in 2009, 36% in 2010 and 31% in 2011, it is down 40% this year to 58,476 registrations, the weakest annual result since 1988 and only the third time in the last 30 years the market drops below 60,000 units… Note 41% of these sales went to fleet, so private consumers only bought 34,500 cars. Greece’s record year is 2000 when 290,030 new cars were registered, nearly 5 times more than this year! The Opel Corsa is the most popular model for the 2nd consecutive year and the 3rd overall after 2007 and 2011 with 3,957 sales and 6.8%, down 34%. While it was #1 10 times out of 12 in 2011, the Corsa only ranked #1 4 times this year. Like in 2011 it is followed by the Toyota Yaris, down 28% to 3,390 units and 5.8% and was #1 4 times also.

Lancia Ypsilon

But the success story of the year is without a doubt the Citroen C3, up 100% and 19 spots to a record #3 with 2,490 sales and 4.3%. Before 2012, the 2nd gen C3 had never ranked within the Greek monthly Top 10 but helped by aggressive pricing, it managed to rank #1 for 3 consecutive months between May and July, peaking at a fantastic 8.4% share in June. It was the first time in 13 years that a Citroen ranked #1 in Greece (since July 1999 and the Citroen Saxo), the first time since September 1998 that a Citroen managed to rank #1 for 2 consecutive months and the first time on record a Citroen stayed there 3 months in a row…

All other models in the Top 10 fall heavily, with the Opel Astra and Hyundai i20 faring the ‘best’ at -37%. Further down, the Nissan Qashqai is up 13 spots to #11, the Citroen C4 up 61% and 36 ranks to #16, the Lancia Ypsilon up 463% and 76 spots to #24, making Greece the model’s best performing overseas market, the Kia Rio up to #27, BMW 1 Series up to #29, Suzuki Alto up to #33, Volvo S60 up to #38, Audi Q3 up to #42, Mini Countryman up to #50, Mercedes B-Class up to #52 and Chevrolet Aveo up to #55. The two best-selling newcomers are the VW Up! landing directly at #18 and the Peugeot 208 at #21.

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Previous year: Greece Full Year 2011: Opel Corsa #1 in weakest market in 22 years

Full Year 2012 Top 100 Ranking Table below.