Europe October 2015: Volkswagen limits fall to 0.2%, Peugeot 308 at #8

November 21, 2015
Matt Gasnier

The Passat is up 81% year-on-year in October and makes it 3 Volkswagens in the Top 5.

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

With Germany and France both up just 1% and the UK down 1% – the first year-on-year drop in almost four years, European new car sales slow down their growth to just 2% in October to 1.144.094 registrations. The year-to-date total is still up a very vigorous 8% on the same period in 2014 at 11.921.587 units, almost one million additional sales on last year. The most anticipated result is of course Volkswagen in the wake of the emissions scandal that looks far from being resolved. So far, the German carmaker resists very well with a tiny 0.2% drop on October 2014 at 141.921 sales, bringing its year-to-date total to 1.452.416 units, up 7% on 2014. Volkswagen places the Golf as #1 as usual with an unreachable 19.000 unit-advantage over the #2, the Polo, while the Passat climbs back up 12 spots on September to #5 with sales up a whopping 81% thanks to the new model.

The Peugeot 308 hits its highest European ranking ever this month.

Ford (+1%), Renault (+0.4%) and Peugeot (+2%) follow while Opel/Vauxhall drops 2.5% at #5. Audi reclaims the #1 luxury spot and manages to outpace the market at +3%, albeit at a much slower rate than competitors BMW (+13%) and Mercedes (+10%) catching up below thanks respectively to the tremendous success of the 2 Series Tourer and the launch of the GLC and GLE SUVs notably. All Top four models lose ground, with the Renault Clio and Ford Fiesta the hardest hit at -14% both. The Clio even slips down to #4 year-to-date, overtaken by the VW Polo. At #6 the Peugeot 208 delivers a very encouraging 22% year-on-year gain thanks to its facelift, with its big sister the Peugeot 308 also in great shape: it lodges a 4th European Top 10 ranking in 12 months, equaling the best-ever #8 ranking it also hit last December thanks to sales up 15% to 18.403 units. But most significantly, this month the 308 ranks 2nd in its segment below just the VW Golf, outselling the Ford Focus, Opel Astra and Audi A3.

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