10:29 am, July 31, 2024
The humble Dacia Sandero was Europe’s best-selling new car for the first half of this year, according to fresh data from automotive market research company JATO.
The Romanian hatchback secured 143,596 sales, followed by the Volkswagen Golf at 126,993 and the Sandero’s mechanical twin, the Renault Clio at 114,623.
There was also room for the likes of the Volkswagen T-Roc (111,381), Peugeot 208 (107,097) and Skoda Octavia (102,945).
The most improved model was the Citroen C3 which enjoyed a 50% hike in sales to 102,304 units in the six months to the end of June, placing it seventh on the overall list.
The best-selling brands in Europe were Volkswagen at 706,265 units sold, Toyota at 482,275 and then BMW at 397,896.
More surprisingly, Chinese manufacturers such as BYD and Xpeng saw a steady growth in battery electric vehicle sales.
The former registered a total of 17,000 electric cars, compared to 14,000 in the first half of 2023. The latter on the other hand registered a total of 2,214 EVs compared to just 51 year-on-year.
On the flip side, Tesla has started to see a decline with a total of 161,600 cars sold compared to 185,200 12 months ago.
Experts at JATO put the decline down to more competitively priced Chinese alternatives, with Felipe Munoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics, saying: ‘This is very similar to what we have seen in the US and there are three reasons behind this.
‘Firstly, we know that any brand cannot maintain growth with a limited product line that is starting to age.
‘Secondly, increasing competition from other brands such as BMW, will undoubtedly impact its registrations, and finally, Tesla’s strategy of price cuts seen in 2023 no longer holds the same effect due to more and more Chinese Oems offering competitively priced vehicles.’
There was some good news for Tesla with the Model Y and Model 3 still ranking as the best-selling EVs in Europe with the SUV selling 101,181 units and its smaller saloon counterpart at 58,400.
Reporting by Cameron Richards
