The latest car sales data from JATO Dynamics reveals that the Dacia Sandero was the best-selling vehicle across Europe during the first half of 2024.
It marks the first time the budget-priced supermini has topped the chart overall, having previously held the title for retail sales only.
During the first six months of this year, Dacia supplied 143,596 examples of the Sandero to the European market.
This put it well ahead of the ever-popular Volkswagen Golf, which has seen sales of 126,993 cars so far this year.
Demand for Dacia
Compared to the first half of 2023, Dacia Sandero sales have increased by an impressive 16 percent in the European market.
Worldwide, some 164,780 Sanderos have been delivered to new owners so far this year – an 18.5 percent jump compared to the same time in 2023.
The Dacia Duster SUV also took 12th place on the European best-sellers list, with 89,435 examples sold. This helped the budget brand to reach ninth place overall, ahead of both Hyundai and Kia.
Volkswagen proved to be the best-selling brand across Europe in the first half of 2024, with a colossal 706,265 cars sold. This was substantially ahead of Toyota in second place, which achieved sales of 482,275 vehicles.
Volkswagen strong in Europe
The figures from JATO Dynamics also show that Volkswagen Group posted the best overall sales figures for battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) in the first half of this year.
However, Volkswagen has seen electric car sales fall by nearly one quarter (24 percent), while Porsche saw demand tumble by 55 percent.
Meanwhile, Chinese brands demonstrated their growing importance, with 70,000 electric cars sold during the first six months of 2024.
Chinese imports under threat
The Chinese-built Volvo EX30 and MG4 models were the third and fourth most-registered BEVs for this period, but they will soon become subject to new EU tariffs.
Felipe Munoz, global analyst at JATO Dynamics, said: “Measures taken by the European Union to impose tariffs on BEV imports from China will target models that accounted for 17 percent of BEV registrations in Europe during H1 2024, excluding potential units imported by Tesla.
“It’s clear that China has significantly helped to drive growth in the market. Without these competitive prices coming from China, consumers will face higher prices, meaning we could see demand fall over the next few months.”