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With SUV Sales Booming, Volkswagen is Europe’s Hottest Seller

The increasing trend set in the past few years by SUVs continued in the first half of 2018 in Europe, with more and more people there choosing this type of cars for their daily business or personal trips.
T-Roc is the best selling SUV in June 6 photos
Photo: JATO Dynamics
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As per the results published by JATO Dynamics on Monday, the European car market grew to a staggering 8.6 million car registrations between January and June, an increase of 2.7 percent compared to the same period of last year.

The increase was actively supported by the 24 percent hike in SUV sales, “a result that marks the best-ever performance for the segment in Europe.

The most appealing cars in the segment were small-sized SUVs, which registerd a record 1.08 million cars sold out of a total of 2.92 million, followed by compact and midsize SUVs. The single decrease in the segment was posted for the large-SUV subsegment, a 9% decline to 141,000 registrations.

As far as carmakers go, the Volkswagen Group as a whole managed to once again finish on top, keeping its crown of top-selling company in Europe. For the first time in history, the group became the leader of the SUV segment as well.

Overall, Volkswagen sold a little over 988,500 cars, with the Golf model leading the pack. Second, but at a great distance behind, came Renault with its Clio and Ford with the Fiesta.

“The VW Group is making the most of the positive landscape created by SUVs,” said in a statement Felipe Munoz, JATO’s global analyst.

“Although the VW brand arrived late to the segment, the impressive and large array of SUVs they are offering the market is paying off.”

The European countries posting the biggest percentage increase in car sales compared to the same period of last year are Romania (33.4 percent), Hungary (29 percent) and Lithuania (24.6 percent). At the opposite end, the UK posted the biggest drop in sales of all countries, 6.3 percent.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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