10. Opel Astra

10. Opel AstraOpel Astra has been the tenth best-selling car in Europe last year, with 275,638 units sold, down 14% from a year earlier.

In 2008, Opel Astra has been purchased by 320,878 European drivers.

Astra car sales fell 1% in December 2009 to 20,892 units from 21,127 in the same period of 2008.

9. Volkswagen Polo

9. Volkswagen PoloThe supermini car manufactured by Volkswagen took the ninth spot in best-selling car ranking, with 2.4 sales rise to 282,780 units sold.

Around 276,000 Volkswagen Polo cars have been sold in Europe in 2008.

December 2009 had seen Polo sales grow 20% to 24,452, versus 20,424 a year earlier.

8. Fiat Panda

8. Fiat PandaThe city car from Italian-based Fiat has seen sales steam up in the European automotive market with a hefty 34% sales growth to 298,914 units.

In 2008, Fiat Panda sales stood at 223,441 cars.

December 2009 has been a strong month for Panda sales with 51% growth year-on-year to 21,685 cars.

7. Ford Focus

7. Ford FocusFord Focus sales grew 8.5% in December 2009 in the European market to 22,044 units, but the annual sales stood below year-ago levels.

Focus sales in Europe fell 15% in 2009 from a year earlier, to 309,134 units.

In 2008, over 364,000 units have been sold in Europe.

6. Renault Clio

6. Renault ClioRenault Clio sales fell 7% year-on-year in 2009 in Europe to 312,925 units.

In 2008, over 335,000 Renault Clio cars have been sold in Europe.

Renault said its Clio sales in December jumped 57% to 27,145 vehicles. The French brand recorded the biggest annual growth in December 2009 of all 10 best-selling cars in the ranking.

5. Fiat Punto

5. Fiat PuntoJATO analysis shows strong finish in December for Fiat Punto with 16% sales rise, the car taking up the fifth position in JATO ranking.

323,536 Fiat Punto were sold last year in Europe, from 279,115 vehicles a year earlier.

The Italian car maker ended a difficult year on a solid note with European Punto sales in December soaring 35% from the same period of 2008, to 21,595 cars.

4. Opel Corsa

4. Opel CorsaThe supermini car from Opel recorded a 2.5% decline in European sales to 351,807 vehicles from 360,761 a year earlier.

In December 2009, Corsa recorded 9.4% decline in Europe to 24, 012 vehicles from 26,496 in December 2008.

3. Peugeot 207

3. Peugeot 207Peugeot’s hatchback grabbed the third position in JATO ranking, despite the 10% YoY drop in sales in 2009 to 367,160 vehicles.

In 2008, 406,718 Peugeot 207 cars were sold in Europe.

The 15.5% sales rise in December hadn’t totally offset the full-year decline for the French-based car manufacturer, but added a respectable number of 27,432 vehicles.

2. Ford Fiesta

2. Ford FiestaFiesta’s 44% growth in European sales in 2009 earned it the silver medal, climbing from last year’s fourth position.

The German brand recorded the biggest sales rise in 2009 of all the 10 brands in the ranking, of 44% year-on-year.

In 2008, the carmaker sold 472,091 Fiesta vehicles in Europe, from 327,828 from a year earlier.

Fiesta European sales advanced 43% in December to 34,222 units from 23,905 in the same period of 2008.

1. Volkswagen Golf

1. Volkswagen GolfVolkswagen Golf is the 2009 best-selling model across Europe, beating Ford’s new Fiesta, by almost 100,000 units.

No other models came close to these two, although the biggest beneficiary of the year overall was Fiat, with both its Panda and Punto posting double-digit European percentage sales increases vs. 2008.

In 2009,571,838 Golf vehicles were sold in Europe, up 24% from 461,539 units a year earlier.

Volkswagen Golf’s December sales grew 9.4% in Europe to 38,394 units.

European new-vehicle sales fell 1.6% in 2009 from a year earlier to 14.48 million, according to official figures from the European Automobiles Manufacturers’ Association.