The Volkswagen Golf has been dethroned by the Renault Clio as the best-selling car in Europe for the month of February 2020.

According to figures released by Jato Dynamics, the Golf managed 24 735 sales on the continent for the month, compared with 24 914 registrations of Renault’s Clio. For the record, the Golf was Europe's best-selling car in 2019, with 410 330 units sold.

As Jato Dynamics points out, the Golf’s fall from first to second in February can at least in part be put down to the gradual changeover to the eighth-generation model across the various European markets.

The Peugeot 208 took third place in February with 20 923 units, while the Opel Corsa (18 406) and Fiat Panda (17 680) rounded out the top five. Interestingly, the Skoda Octavia was the only sedan to place in the top ten, while SUVs and crossovers didn’t feature at all (the highest-ranked example being the Peugeot 3008 in 12th).

Indeed, Jato’s figures suggest registrations for SUVs fell by 1,7 percent to 415 300 units in February, taking the year-to-date total to 865 500 units, down by 1,4 percent from 2019. Midsize cars, meanwhile, posted the highest growth among all segments, largely thanks to the BMW 3 Series and Volkswagen Passat. Their combined registrations made up 31 percent of the whole midsize segment volume.

The broader market in Europe suffered a decline in February, with the 1 063 264 registrations equating to a month-on-month fall of 7,0 percent. Jato claims its data suggests the impact of COVID-19 has yet to be felt by the European automotive market.

Check out Europe’s best-selling brands and cars below...

Original article from Car