The Seat Ibiza scores a third consecutive pole position at home. New car registrations in Spain surge 16.8% year-on-year in 1998 to break an all-time annual volume record dating back to 1989 to 1.166.748 units. Renault (+24.3%), Seat (+19.8%) and Citroen (+18.7%) all outpace the market in a podium unchanged…
Opel Astra I only have official figures for July 1998, if you have more complete data please make sure to get in touch! The launch of the new generation has given an impressive boost to the Opel Astra's sales in the Netherlands: it grabs no less than 11.5% of the…
Opel Corsa * See the Top 30 best-selling models by clicking on 'Read more' at end of post! * Contrary to common belief, the Toyota Corolla has not been the best-selling car in the world each year since 1975. I do not have any official data for the 1975-96 period…
VW Golf In 1998 the VW Golf celebrates its 18th consecutive year atop the German model ranking (it's an adult now!) with a 21% sales increase thanks to the arrival of the 4th generation launched in late 1997. The Golf nameplate is back above 300,000 annual sales with 338,550 units…
Renault Clio * See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on 'Read more' at end of post! * French car sales are up a healthy 14% this year at 1,943,553 registrations. The race for the first place was very close, with the Renault Megane leading up until August. However…
The Polo scores its first Top 10 finish just as Volkswagen is #1 for the first time in 30 years. * See the Top 40 All-brands and Top 50 models by clicking on the title * New car sales in Finland gain another 8.6% in 1997 to cross the 100.000…
Ford Mondeo * See the Top 30 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to Florian * In 1997, the Ford Fiesta stays on top for the second year in a row, but it didn't look like it at the start of the year: boosted by its facelift,…
Fiat Punto * See the Top 10 best-selling models by clicking on the title! * After leading for 4 months in 1995-1996, the Fiat Punto finally makes its mark over the European car market and puts an end to 14 years of uninterrupted domination by the VW Golf. The Fiat…
Volvo V70 * See the Top 30 best-selling models by clicking on the title! * The Swedish car market is up 25% year-on-year in 1996 to 225,263 registrations. The Volvo 850 gets replaced by the S/V/C70, denoting the Sedan, Versatile (Station Wagon) and Coupe versions. Sales are not split in…
VW Golf * See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks Florian for the data * At 3,528,179 registrations and up 0.9%, the German car market passes the 3.5 million mark for the third time only after 1991 and 1992. No surprises on top, the VW…
Seat Ibiza New car sales in Spain lift up a very solid 11% year-on-year in 1997 to 998.874 units, the largest annual volume this decade. Renault (+7.3%) manages to hold onto the brands top spot even though its market share continues to thaw to 12.9%. Illustrating the increased competitiveness of…
Renault Megane Scenic * See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on the title! * Catastrophic year for car sales in France: down 20% at 1,713,030 registrations, the worst total since 1975. Massive change in pole position: the Renault Megane puts an end to 5 years of uninterrupted Clio…
VW Polo * See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to STAC * (Note these figures include Luxembourg) While the pole position is no surprise this year in Belgium - the VW Golf leads by far with 23,709 sales and 5.5% share - it's…
Fiat Punto * See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to STAC * For the first time since 1992, the Portuguese new car market is on the up in 1996 at +8% to 217,913 registrations. It's the second consecutive year of reign for the…
Hyundai Accent * See the Top 50 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to STAC * Norwegian new car sales continue their impressive progression to 124,000 units in 1996. The VW Golf stays on top with 7,949 sales and 6.4% but is now followed by the Toyota…