The new generation of the subcompact hatchback Dacia Sandero is the best-selling car in Europe in July this year. In this way, the Romanian car dethroned the longtime leader Volkswagen Golf.
Otherwise, sales of new vehicles fell to 967,830 last month from 1.27 million in July 2020. Data are from 26 European markets collected by JATO Dynamics.
But the most interesting thing is that Sandero took first place for the first time since the introduction of the model in 2008. The legendary German Volkswagen Golf, which usually tops the rankings, ranked second, followed by Toyota Yaris.
Sales of new cars in most European markets they fell in July as the pandemic continued to put pressure on consumers and a global shortage of microchips reduced the availability of many models.
For example, the French market fell by 35%, sales in the UK and Spain fell by 30% and the German market by 25%. Sales in Italy fell by 19%.
Hyundai and Suzuki are among the brands whose sales volumes increased in July, with Hyundai’s registrations increasing by 5.5% and Suzuki’s by 4.7%. Sales of all other major brands fell: Renault 54%, Ford 46%, Nissan 37%, Peugeot 34% and Citroen 31%.
Registrations of VW, the best-selling brand in Europe, fell by 19%. Thanks to the popularity of the Sandero, Dacia’s decline is only 16%. The focus in July is on sales of electrified vehicles.
According to JATO Dynamics, sales of plug-in hybrids have given the best results so far, with the second highest monthly market share this year just a month earlier – in June.
In July, 160,646 hybrid vehicles were registered, representing almost 17% of the total number of vehicles sold. The Volkswagen ID.3 hatchback is the best-selling all-electric car in Europe in July, and the Ford Kuga is the best-selling hybrid car.
The market share of diesel vehicles decreased to 22% from 30% in July 2020 and 32% in July 2019. The share of petrol cars is 59%, compared to 60% in July 2020 and 63% in July 2019.
Sales in July are still below pre-pandemic levels. In July last year, 1.27 million were registered, and in July 2019 – 1.32 million. European new car sales in the first seven months of this year rose 24 percent to 7.38 million.
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