Europe: The best-selling models 2002-2012 in graphs

2002-2012 volume for the 2012 Top 5 models in Europe (click to enlarge the image).

* See Europe 1983-2012 Historical Data by clicking on the title! *

Back by popular demand, Josh’s graphs! Thank you all for your feedback, it looks like graphs are something you would like to see appear again on BestSellingCarsBlog… so I have enrolled Josh and his outstanding graph-creating skills to do so. Today we wanted to bring to life a few European trends over the last decade. The graph above follows the sales volume for the Top 5 models in 2012, going back to 2002. Now. This graph only shows the Top 5 cars in 2012, not each year otherwise it would be too busy. On top of the VW Golf and Opel Astra, the Peugeot 206 and 207 also ranked #1 over that period but don’t appear on this graph – bear with us, this one is coming soon.

2002-2012 sales variation of the Top 5 models in Europe in 2012 (click to enlarge the image).

What becomes really apparent looking at this graph and the second one above is that apart from the Ford Fiesta (+11% between 2002 and 2012), all Top 5 models actually find themselves at a much lower volume level in 2012 than they were in 2002: the VW Golf is still #1 but down 25%, the VW Polo is down 14%, the Opel Corsa down 31% and the Opel Astra down 38%. There is a word for all this madness: fragmentation! More and more models have flooded the European market over the last decade, with the Top 5 holding 12.9% of the overall European market in 2012 vs. 18.9% in 2002, and the Top 10 holding 22% vs. 31% in 2002.

See Europe 1983-2012 Historical Data below.