20 Ianuarie 2010
Top 10 most popular cars in Europe
The ten best-selling cars in Europe in 2009 recorded amid recessionary times up to 44% sales rises and declines of up to 15% year-on-year, according to the full-year 2009 analysis by the provider of automotive data and intelligence, JATO Dynamics.
10. Opel Astra
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
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
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
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
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
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
In December 2009, Corsa recorded 9.4% decline in Europe to 24, 012 vehicles from 26,496 in December 2008.
3. Peugeot 207
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
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
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.