Peugeot 208 was the best-selling car in Europe in 2022 – dethroning the VW Golf

The Volkswagen Golf has been Europe’s best-selling car since 2007, but in 2022 it was dethroned by the Peugeot 208.

The VW Golf has been the best-selling car in Europe since 2007, but times have changed and it’s been knocked off its throne by the Peugeot 208. Not only has the Golf dropped from the top spot, but it’s also crashed down to fifth place behind the Dacia Sandero, VW T-Roc and Fiat 500.

It’s not just the popularity of the 208 which has knocked the Golf off the top, but internal competition from within VW Group with cars like the T-Roc, Tiguan, KAroq, Ateca and Formentor delivering more appealing SUV options in the same price range as the Golf.

Jato Dynamics’ analyst Felipe Munoz said:

The success of the Golf is owed to the fact that it was able to meet the needs of a wide range of consumers without leading in any given parameter. But times change, and today consumer priorities are quite different from some years ago.

But although the Golf lost its top spot, the VW brand still came out at the top of the manufacture pile (despite a 6 per cent drop in numbers) followed by Toyota, Mercedes, BMW and Peugeot.

The sales figures for Europe – which include the UK and EFTA countries – show an overall drop in sales across the continent of 11,309,310, some 4.1 per cent down on 2021 and the lowest numbers since 1985.

The bright spots in a smaller market included big gains for Chinese brands – especially MG – and Hyundai/Kia as well as Toyota, with Tesla’s market share up by 50 per cent.