Europe Full Year 2010: VW Golf leader ahead of Fiesta and Polo Now with Top 50 best selling models

* Top 50 best selling models available thanks to Lancia Lover at  autoweek.nl! See ‘Read more’ below *

The VW Golf is the best selling car in Europe for the 3rd year in a row with 502,307 sales (-12%), ahead of the Ford Fiesta at 425,595 (-10%). The Golf led the market 11 months out of 12, peaking at 56,945 sales in March, paradoxically the only month it didn’t rank 1st.

Like in 2009, the Ford Fiesta was only #1 once, in March, but with 68,630 sales, it delivered the best monthly figure of any model in Europe in the last 8 years! The European models ranking returned to being ‘multi-dimentional’ this year: by ranking 2nd in June, the Opel Corsa put an end to 17 consecutive months of Golf-Fiesta rule.

Four cars progress this year in the Top 10: the VW Polo is at +29% in 3rd (+6 spots) and ranked #2 four times, the Renault Clio is at +11% in 4th (+2), the Opel Astra at +11% in 7th (+3) and the Renault Megane at +18% in 9th (+3).

Other 2010 highlights include the Nissan Qashqai breaking into the monthly Top 10 for the first time in July, and Hyundai becoming the best selling Asian brand for the first time too, ahead of Toyota.

Full Year Top 50, December and every Monthly Top 10 Ranking Tables below.

Based on JATO figures, European car sales are down 4% in December at 1,026,443 registrations, bringing the 2010 total to 13,692,067 and -5%. In December, the Opel Corsa climbs to a very solid 2nd spot, its best since June, and the Citroen C3 stays in the Top 10, the 3rd time it does so this year.

You can check out every Monthly Top 10 (JATO figures) here: Europe 2010 Monthly

Europe Top 10 December 2010 (JATO figures):

Pos	Model	Dec	%	Nov	2010	%	Pos
1	VW Golf	34,045	3.3%	1	492,556	3.6%	1
2	Opel Corsa	27,435	2.7%	6	317,950	2.3%	5
3	Renault Clio	26,519	2.6%	4	338,245	2.5%	4
4	VW Polo	24,990	2.4%	2	354,068	2.6%	3
5	Peugeot 207	23,559	2.3%	5	305,468	2.2%	6
6	Ford Fiesta	23,108	2.3%	3	402,207	2.9%	2
7	Opel Astra	22,432	2.2%	9	291,219	2.1%	7
8	Fiat Punto	17,975	1.8%	11	257,645	1.9%	10
9	Renault Megane	17,888	1.7%	8	260,542	1.9%	9
10	Citroen C3	16,198	1.6%	10	224,953	1.6%	12

Europe Top 10 Full Year 2010 (JATO figures):

Pos	Model	2010	%	/09	Pos	2009	%	Pos
1	VW Golf	492,556	3.6%	-14%	1	571,075	4.0%	1
2	Ford Fiesta	402,207	2.9%	-15%	2	472,158	3.3%	2
3	VW Polo	354,068	2.6%	+25%	3	283,069	2.0%	9
4	Renault Clio	338,245	2.5%	+8%	4	313,102	2.2%	6
5	Opel Corsa	317,950	2.3%	-10%	5	351,858	2.4%	4
6	Peugeot 207	305,468	2.2%	-17%	6	367,474	2.6%	3
7	Opel Astra	291,219	2.1%	+6%	7	275,906	1.9%	10
8	Ford Focus	262,500	1.9%	-15%	8	309,134	2.2%	7
9	Renault Megane	260,542	1.9%	+13%	9	231,015	1.6%	12
10	Fiat Punto	257,645	1.9%	-20%	10	324,125	2.3%	5

Europe Top 50 Full Year 2010 (Automotive News figures):

Pos	Model	2010
1	VW Golf	502,307
2	Ford Fiesta	425,595
3	VW Polo	364,439
4	Renault Clio	348,921
5	Opel Corsa	333,622
6	Peugeot 207	310,827
7	Opel Astra	306,152
8	Ford Focus	292,348
9	Renault Megane	272,612
10	Fiat Punto	266,553
11	Fiat Panda	236,323
12	Citroen C3	230,140
13	Nissan Qashqai	215,982
14	BMW 3 Series	187,623
15	Renault Scenic	187,012
16	Skoda Octavia	186,994
17	Peugeot 308	181,976
18	Audi A3	178,860
19	Audi A4	173,069
20	VW Passat	170,876
21	Fiat 500	165,454
22	Toyota Yaris	165,174
23	Skoda Fabia	162,207
24	Seat Ibiza	157,610
25	Mercedes C Class	151,848
26	Renault Twingo	150,237
27	BMW 1 Series	147,863
28	Mercedes E Class	142,003
29	Dacia Sandero	139,234
30	Opel Insignia	139,012
31	Mini	130,115
32	Peugeot 206+	121,828
33	Citroen C4 Picasso	120,047
34	Peugeot 3008	117,819
35	Hyundai i30	117,675
36	BMW 5 Series	110,669
37	VW Tiguan	109,722
38	Mercedes A Class	107,183
39	Peugeot 107	106,842
40	Opel Meriva	104,323
41	Citroen C1	102,100
42	Ford Mondeo	100,157
43	Toyota Auris	96,073
44	Hyundai i10	95,671
45	Kia Cee’d	95,629
46	VW Touran	94,927
47	Opel Zafira	90,440
48	VW Golf Plus	84,290
49	Smart Fortwo	83,259
50	Mercedes B Class	82,150

Sources: JATO, Automotive News

Note: JATO European figures include the 27 European Union countries minus Bulgaria, Romania and Malta, plus Switzerland, Norway and Iceland. Automotive Nnews figures cover more countries but don’t specify which ones. So probably including Bulgaria, Romania and Malta.