AUTONEWS

Top 30 best-selling cars in Europe!

After three difficult years, marked by the Covid and the difficulty in obtaining supplies of electronic components, the European market is picking up. In the first half of this year, it has increased by 17.6%with a little more than 6.5 million new cars delivered.

Within this huge market, which has 31 pays (the 27 countries of the European Union + Iceland, Norway, the United Kingdom and Switzerland), the disparities are however important. Thus, while our neighbors to the south recorded considerable progress (+ 24% in Spain and + 22.8% in Italy), Hungary, for example, lost 1.6%.

And these differences are even more marked when we look at the case of electric cars. If, on average, they obtain 15.1% of sales on the European market (in the geographical sense of the term), the Norwegians are 83% have opted for this energy since the start of the year. If we compare to the Polish market for example, only 4% made this choice over the same period!

And that’s good for the planet. Indeed, Polish electricity being mainly produced by coal-fired power stations, driving there at the wheel of a Tesla or a Zoe generates more CO2 than with most thermal cars! Finally, there are very clear disparities on all the other engines. Thus, the Bulgarians are 74% to have opted for a fully combustion petrol car, while almost one out of two Cypriots (48.5%) has acquired a “full hybrid” model.

The Volkswagen Golf has lost its crown...After decades of unchallenged reign, the Queen Volkswagen Golf gave up his throne. Currently returned to its 8th generationit plummeted very severely in sales on this podium in the 1st half of 2023. Over the last six months, it only appeared at the 16th place in the top 30!

She leaves her crown to a naturalized German American (the copies delivered on our continent are assembled near Berlin) : the Tesla Model Y ! A logical result since this electric SUV is, over this semester, the best-selling model in the world… Displayed at €45,990 in France, the Y model offers an almost unbeatable performance/price ratio since the very aggressive pricing policies led by its CEO. Elon Musk.

The cars that complete this podium arouse more astonishment. Indeed, just behind the Tesla, we find the Dacia Sandero, followed by… the Opel Corsa, sold under the Vauxhall brand in the UK! Long focused on compact models (VW Golf, Peugeot 308, etc.), the European market, probably put off by the unbridled rise in prices, is moving more and more towards the lower segments. Among the 10 most registered models since the beginning of the year, no less than eight (including 2 SUVs) belong to segments A and B, that of city cars and city SUVs, such as the Ford Puma for example.

The best Frenchwoman ranked 6th...As for the best French, it is the Peugeot 208, class 6th. Not bad for a model that hasn’t changed since… 2019! THE very recent restyling of the city car will only be available at the start of the next school year.

Here again, from one country to another, the preferences, but also, of course, the financial means diverge. While the Swedes had been placing the Volvo top of their purchases, they now largely choose the Tesla Model Ywhen the Greeks only have eyes for the Opel Corsa, which only points to 25th place with us.

A surprise European podium for 2023

Tesla Model Y : 108 590

Dacia Sandero: 95 022

Opel/Vauxhall Corsa : 80 005

Volkswagen T-Roc : 78 682

Peugeot 208 : 71 322

Fiat 500 : 65 181

Ford Puma : 65 072

Renault Clio : 64 378

Hyundai Tucson : 63 431

Toyota Yaris: 62 018

Mini Hatch : 56 900

Nissan Qashqai: 54 576

Toyota Yaris Cross : 52 838

Peugeot 2008 : 52 155

Volkswagen Golf : 52 081

Volkswagen Tiguan : 50 104

Dacia Duster : 46 974

Citroën C3: 44 513

Kia Sportage : 42 689

Skoda Octavia: 42 321

Renault Captur: 41 623

Peugeot 3008 : 41 530

Volkswagen Polo : 39 510

Opel/Vauxhall Mokka: 36 643

Fiat Panda : 36 372

Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 : 35 414

Toyota Corolla: 34 185

Audi Q3 : 31 855

BMW X1 : 31 152

Volkswagen T-Cross : 30 887

A certain European harmony...A handful of successful models nevertheless manage to gain unanimous support, to the point of being among the best sellers in each of these countries. These are the Dacia Sandero, Fiat 500, Hyundai Tucson, Tesla Model Y, Toyota Yaris, Volkswagen Golf et Volkswagen T-Roc.

And the French in all this? They are quite discreet. Thus, only the Peugeot 208 (6th) and Renault Clio (9th) invite themselves into the European top 10. And in the next 20 places, we find only the Peugeot 2008 (15th), Citroën C3 (19th), Renault Captur (22nd) and finally the Peugeot 3008 (23ème).

par: Pierre Audemar Publié