Europe October 2013: Skoda Octavia breaks into Top 5 for 1st time

Skoda Octavia sales in Europe are up 46% year-on-year this month.

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

For the second month in a row, the European new car market is reassuringly up year-on-year at +5% in October to 1,049,596 registrations, reducing the year-to-date decline to just 3% at 10,428,545 units. As a reminder new car sales in Europe were down 5% year-on-year at end-August. Brand-wise, Volkswagen leads the dance by far at 12.8% market share ahead of Ford at 7.3% and Renault at 7%, up a shiny 13% on October 2012. Opel is up 6% to #5, Mercedes up 7% to #9 and Skoda up 24% to #10.

The VW Golf is up a whopping 31% year-on-year in Europe this month.

Unsurprisingly the VW Golf is the most popular model on the continent for the 43rd consecutive month thanks to 43,281 sales, up a huge 31% year-on-year and the only model above 25,000, 30,000, 35,000 and 40,000 sales this month… The Renault Clio is back up 2 spots on September to reach #2 for the 5th time in the last 9 months, up 6% to 24,500 units but remains #3 year-to-date below the Ford Fiesta. The VW Polo is back up 4 ranks to reclaim the #4 spot it holds year-to-date, the Peugeot 208 stays #6 but is down a surprisingly harsh 24% on October 2012 and the BMW 3 Series continues to shine, up 8% to #10.

Who would have thought the Octavia would rank #5 in Europe when it first launched in 1959?

But the best performance this month is delivered by the Skoda Octavia, breaking inside the European Top 5 for the very first time in the nameplate’s 17 year career: the Octavia name was re-launched in 1996 after a first generation was on sale between 1959 and 1971. The only other two times the Octavia managed to rank inside the European Top 10 were in January 2012 and last August when it both ranked #10. It is also the first time a Skoda ranks that high in Europe, with the only other model in the Czech manufacturer’s range to achieve a Top 10 finish being the Skoda Fabia reaching #10 in August 2008 and #8 in August 2009…

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One year ago: Europe October 2012: Peugeot 208 #3, Fiat Panda back in Top 10

Full October 2013 Top 10 models and brands Ranking Tables below.