This happened several times from month to month and quarter to quarter. And now it's pretty much confirmed – Dacia Sandero was Europe's most popular car in 2024.
Europe's most popular car in 2024 was the Dacia Sandero. It thus surpassed the Tesla Model Y, which had previously held first place in 2023. In Denmark, the Tesla holds on to its first place.
For many years, German car manufacturers dominated all parts of the European car market. But now the picture has changed significantly.
This shows new figures from Jato Dynamics .
In economically tight times, more drivers are looking for cheaper alternatives. Even those on four wheels. In any case, the best-selling car in Europe in 2024 was the relatively inexpensive Dacia Sandero.
According to figures from market analyst Jato Dynamics, 268,101 new Dacia Sandero models were registered in Europe in 2024.
However, the importer only sold 411 copies of the Romanian model, which is built on older Renault technology, at home. This is due to the Danish tax system that favors electric cars.
The Dacia is not like that. At least not yet.
Instead, Dacia's first place is an expression of how things are generally in Europe. And here Dacia can note an increase in sales of a whopping 14 percent compared to the previous year.
The Dacia Sandero, which is produced by the Romanian Renault subsidiary, thus surpassed the Tesla Model Y. And quite significantly, by more than 50,000 cars.
The Tesla Model Y was the first electric car ever to achieve that ranking. But that was in 2023.
In 2024, the Tesla Model Y, on the other hand, experienced a decline in sales of almost 17 percent. A decline that meant that the Tesla Model Y had to settle for fourth place in Europe.
This meant it was surpassed by both the Renault Clio and the Volkswagen Golf. The Renault Clio and VW Golf took second and third place on the list, respectively.
The ten most popular cars in Europe in 2024 were distributed as follows:
- Dacia Sandero: 268,101 new registrations.
- Renault Clio: 216,317 new registrations.
- VW Golf: 215,715 new registrations.
- Tesla Model Y: 209,214 new registrations.
- VW T-Roc: 202,840 new registrations.
- Peugeot 208: 199,909 new registrations.
- Toyota Yaris Cross: 194,006 new registrations.
- Skoda Octavia: 180,607 new registrations.
- Dacia Duster: 175,213 new registrations.
- Toyota Yaris: 174,042 new registrations.
It is worth noting that Europe's most popular car, Dacia Sandero, achieved a significant increase in sales spread throughout last year
Something that emphasizes that there was great interest in the cheaper gasoline cars in 2024. And Tesla paid for that.
The question is whether Tesla can hold on to fourth place, or whether further declines are on the way. Here in Denmark, the car portal Bilbasen.dk notes that the number of searches for the brand has dropped significantly.
Several analysts point out that it may be related to Tesla CEO Elon Musk's interference in both American and European politics.
On the other hand, Tesla shouldn't worry about its order books suddenly peaking. For example, over 73,000 have ordered a model they don't even have a sample card for yet. Read more about it here .