Europe's top-selling cars in September: VW Golf with another tap-in
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Volkswagen Golf continued its dominance as Europe's most popular vehicle last month but the Ford Fiesta is steadily decreasing its gap from the sales leader, according to data released by industry trackers JATO Dynamics on October 16.
September's biggest hits in Europe are all models which benefited from national scrappage schemes. The drive to trash older clunkers has allowed fuel-efficient compacts like the Volkswagen Golf, Ford Fiesta, Fiat Punto, Fiat Panda and the Renault Mégane to be the only top sellers to enjoy sustained success in 2009.
All these best-sellers, excepting the Focus, Peugeot 207 and Astra, enjoyed huge increases, from 14 to 90 percent, over their September 2008 sales.
"We are still seeing the market recovery driven by small cars and new models - in other words, the popular choices in national scrappage schemes," said David Di Girolamo, head of JATO Consulting. "This has clearly distorted the natural performance of some markets and models."
With many of these government initiatives now ending across Europe time will tell if super fuel-sippers continue their newfound popularity.
Top 10 Car Models in Europe in September 2009
| Rank | Model | Total September 2009 Sales | % Change YtD* |
| 1 | Volkswagen Golf | 59,552 | +21.3 |
| 2 | Ford Fiesta | 51,291 | +40.2 |
| 3 | Opel/Vauxhall Corsa | 38,947 | -6.8 |
| 4 | Ford Focus | 32,329 | -18.8 |
| 5 | Peugeot 207 | 32,223 | -16.4 |
| 6 | Opel/Vauxhall Astra | 32,154 | -20.8 |
| 7 | Renault Clio | 31,513 | -19.4 |
| 8 | Fiat Punto | 29,726 | +10.1 |
| 9 | Fiat Panda | 24,783 | +30.6 |
| 10 | Renault Megane | 22,050 | +29.0 |
*YtD: 2009 sales totals compared with sales from January through September 2008
Figures were provided by JATO Dynamics, an auto industry research firm that tracks sales data.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments