Volkswagen tops annual sales in Europe for third time as market shrinks 1.2%
Volkswagen was the most popular car manufacturer in Europe in 2011, serving up two of the continent’s best selling models.
Europeans lapped up 1.6m VWs last year as the Golf and Polo claimed the top two places. This latest achievement marks the third time that Volkswagen topped Europe’s annual sales chart.
Despite bossing UK sales with little bother in 2011, Ford played second fiddle in Europe with the Fiesta – the UK’s top selling model – proving to be Europe’s third favourite car.
Europe’s fondness for British models seemed strong with Vauxhall managing to push its Corsa and Astra into the top five car models as it secured fourth in the top ten brands.
Challenging year
The European car market was down by 1.2% overall on the previous year with 13.5m cars sold compared to 13.7m in 2010.
Germans bought more cars than any other of its European neighbours (3.1m), perhaps unsurprisingly considering Germany’s current superior economy.
France came second, shifting 2.2m cars, while Great Britain claimed bronze with 1.94m registrations.
Iceland sold the least number of cars in Europe (5,034) despite reporting a 66% mark-up on 2010’s performance.
Gareth Hession, Vice President of Research at JATO – which compiles the data – commented: “Germany is clearly leading Europe in terms of a market for new cars as well as manufacturing models which appeal to consumers across the region. This is even more impressive considering the challenges we saw in the overall European market during 2011.
“The European new car market carries significant risks whilst it remains dependent upon a strong performance in Germany. 2012 is going to be a very important and challenging year especially for European based and sales dependent manufacturers.”
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