The Dacia Sandero was Europe’s best-selling car in the first half of 2024, pushing the Volkswagen Golf into second place and the Renault Clio into third, while the Tesla Model Y – last year’s global best-seller – languished in eighth.
The Romanian hatchback, which starts from as little as €11,500/€79 a month in Germany (from £13,795 in the UK), racked up 143,596 sales between 1 January and 30 June. That's a rise of 16% compared with the same period in 2023.
This is the first time the Sandero has held top spot – it placed second in 2022 and 2023 – despite being Europe’s best-selling private car since 2017, which shows the power of fleet sales that have been felt by other models.
Sales of the second-placed Golf, which was renewed earlier this year, rose 43% to 125,993, closely followed by the Clio (114,623, up 15%), the Volkswagen T-Roc (111,381, no change) and fifth-placed Peugeot 208 (107,097, up 1%).
Overall registrations increased by 4.4% to 6,847,842 vehicles, European data firm Jato Dynamics has revealed. Its global analyst, Felipe Muniz, said this moderate rise is a result of “more complex operating environments, including emissions regulations, increasing prices of vehicles, and barriers facing the adoption of electric cars.”
The Tesla Model Y, in eighth with 101,181 sales, remains Europe’s best-selling EV despite a 26% year-on-year drop in sales. The Vauxhall/Opel Corsa (down 18%), Hyundai Tucson (down 2%) and Fiat/Abarth 500 (down 20%) were the only others in the top 25 to experience year-on-year drops.
Closely behind the Model Y was its Tesla Model 3 sibling, sales of which rose 37% to 58,400.
Overall, EV sales recorded a 1.4% market share increase to 7.37%, driven by a 26% rise in Chinese-made car sales (70,000, excluding Tesla models), such as the recently launched Volvo EX30 (36,980 sales), and the MG 4 (31,922 sales, up 4%).
Notable sales growth for Chinese cars also came from BYD, which, following a heavy European push with the Atto 3, Seal and Dolphin, registered 17,000 electric cars - 14,000 more than in the first half of 2023.
Registrations of European-made cars fell 14%. Most notably, Porsche EV sales fell 55%, followed by a 26% drop for Volkswagen – driven by falls for the Volkswagen ID 4 (29,146 sales, down 30%) and Volkswagen ID 3 (29,136, down 17%). In contrast, BMW sales grew 7.5% to claim a 10% share of the BEV market.
“Sharp domestic competition is the driving force behind the extraordinary level of progress observed in China,” said Muniz. “However, the associated impacts of market saturation, oversupply and a price war mean that, for many, overseas expansion will be critical to fulfilling growth ambitions.”
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