The Volkswagen Golf is the best-selling car in Europe so far in 2011, with over 292,000 models being sold up to the end of July.
The UK’s best-selling car, the Ford Fiesta, is next up, but a long way behind with 220,555 units sold. Clearly, Brits like the Fiesta more than Europe as a whole does.
Just behind the Fiesta is the VW Polo: its 219,118 sales total is less than 1,500 cars behind the Fiesta – and, in July, it was indeed a VW sales one-two, as the Polo pipped the Fiesta.
However, although the Golf is top of the sales charts, its lead has diminished over last year. Sales have fallen by 6.1% compared to this time in 2010. That’s greater than the total market fall of 1.7% in Europe, which will be a worry to Volkswagen.
The Fiesta has suffered an even bigger fall so far this year, of 17.6%. This autumn’s Fiesta refresh can’t come too soon. At least the Ford Focus is up, by 3.2% year to date and a significant 18.6% in July.
The Volkswagen Passat is selling strongly too. Sitting in 8th place in the overall European top 10, sales have increased by a huge 27% so far this year.
It is bad news for French firms though. The Renault Clio is down 15.1% year to date, while the Renault Megane has dropped by 11.3%. Sales of the Peugeot 207 have declined by 19.5% since this time last year.
JATO research carried out the analysis. Vice president Gareth Hession said: “While the new car market has been strong in Germany, low sales performances in July for the rest of the big five markets continue to impact the region as a whole.
“Continued economic uncertainty in the region is likely to have an impact on consumer confidence which could influence sales on the forecourt.”
European top 10 best sellers, year to date
1 Volkswagen Golf
2 Ford Fiesta
3 Volkswagen Polo
4 Vauxhall Corsa
5 Renault Clio
6 Vauxhall Astra
7 Ford Focus
8 Peugeot 207
9 Volkswagen Passat
10 Renault Megane
