Ford Fiesta Takes Over From VW Golf as Europe’s Best-Selling Car

In total, 68,630 new Fiestas were sold in March 2010, a 25.8% rise in sales, vs. March 2009 and 11,785 more than Volkswagen’s second-placed Golf.

Year-to-date, Fiesta is also ahead, selling 140,496 to Golf’s 135,048, reversing the picture from Q1 2009, but continuing a pattern where Fiesta has closed the sales gap to Golf through 2010.

Fiesta’s achievement is even more impressive considering Golf sales also increased during last month and the year’s first quarter.  Fiesta sales simply outpaced Golf, with its move to pole position particularly due to its strong March sales in the UK (+14.7%) and Italy (+87%), where 57% of all Fiestas sold (11,251) were LPG-powered.

By contrast, Golf’s traditionally strong home market, Germany, continued to struggle, losing 106,590 sales overall, vs. March 2009 (- 26.6%).

Model Performance
Fiesta’s move to the top of the table is the result of success in key markets, notably Great Britain, where it sold 34% of all March models (23,681 sales)