Europe 1995: Fiat Punto interrupts 154 months of Golf domination

Fiat Punto

A once-in-a-decade event occurs in November 1995: after 154 consecutive months of VW Golf domination, the Fiat Punto takes the reins of the European car market with 51,058 sales vs. 50,693 for the Golf.

It took just two years for the Punto to establish itself as the first serious threat to the Golf domination in Europe, a feat that the Fiat Uno never achieved in its 10 year life. Over the full year however, the VW Golf keeps the pole position for the 13th year in a row with 659,000 sales, the Punto following with 606,000 units.

VW Golf

The Opel Astra and Ford Fiesta both drop one spot with 571,000 and 480,000 sales respectively. The Ford Escort is in good shape, and with 477,000 units this year it passes the Opel Corsa to reach the 5th place. The Renault Clio and Ford Mondeo are stable in 7th and 8th position, followed by the VW Polo and the Peugeot 306.

Full Top 10 Ranking Tables for November 1995 and Full Year 1995 below.

Europe November 1995:

Pos	Model	Nov-95	%	/94	Nov-94	Pos
1	VW Golf	50,693	0.4%	-4%	52,915	1
2	Opel Astra	41,862	0.3%	-11%	46,878	2
3	Fiat Punto	51,058	0.4%	17%	43,602	3
4	Renault Clio	27,489	0.2%	-27%	37,502	4
5	Ford Fiesta	37,683	0.3%	4%	36,095	5
6	Opel Corsa	39,516	0.3%	17%	33,919	6
7	Ford Escort	36,593	0.3%	14%	32,241	7
8	Peugeot 306	22,795	0.2%	-16%	27,137	8
9	Peugeot 106	22,774	0.2%	1%	22,661	–
10	VW Polo	28,185	0.2%	110%	13,409	–

Europe Full Year 1995:

Pos	Model	1995	1994
1	VW Golf	659,000	1
2	Fiat Punto	606,000	4
3	Opel Astra	571,000	2
4	Ford Fiesta	480,000	3
5	Ford Escort	477,000	6
6	Opel Corsa	460,000	5
7	Renault Clio	393,000	7
8	Ford Mondeo	351,000	8
9	VW Polo	328,000	–
10	Peugeot 306	319,000	9

Source: L’Auto Journal