PoloDriver

The Volkswagen Polo may have slipped out of the UK’s top 10 best-selling cars chart for February 2015, but in Europe it’s still doing big business. A total of 21,495 Polos were sold across Europe last month (45,102 for the year-to-date), a 7.2 per cent increase on the same period in 2014. It was the second most popular car across the continent during February.

What was number one? The Golf, of course. In a repeat of January, the ever-dependable Volkswagen family hatchback ruled the roost, selling 36,292 examples. A 5.8 per cent boost over the same period in 2014, the popular Renault Clio rounded off the top three, only 91 units behind the Polo.

The new Volkswagen Passat helped increase that particular nameplate’s sales by 63.8 per cent year-on-year compared to last February. A year-to-date increase of 44 per cent made it the most improved performer across both measures among the top 10 best-selling models, where it placed eighth.

Once again, the picture was an upbeat one. European new car sales for February were up a total of 7.8 per cent over the same period last year, JATO Dynamics’ latest figures state. Volkswagen, Ford and Renault were again the best-selling brands, while the five biggest markets in Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) all recorded growth, as was the case in January.

The top 10 best-selling cars in Europe (sales figure in thousands) in February 2015 were as follows:

1 Volkswagen Golf: 36,292

2 Volkswagen Polo: 21,495

3 Renault Clio: 21,406

4 Ford Fiesta: 17,053
5 Peugeot 208: 16,047

6 Vauxhall/Opel Corsa: 16,719
7 Skoda Octavia: 16,407
8 Volkswagen Passat: 15,711

9 Nissan Qashqai: 15,682
10 Audi A3/S3/RS3: 14,036