Renault Clio beats Dacia Sandero as Europe’s best-selling car in April 2025

Over the first three months of 2025, the Dacia Sandero consistently led Europe’s sales charts, even though it was selling fewer units than in 2024. In April, however, another model stepped in to take the crown: the Renault Clio.

April’s rankings: Renault Clio overtakes Dacia Sandero

It is still “all in the family” within Renault Group, yet the Clio managed to beat its more affordable “cousin” by almost 1,000 registrations: 19 820 units for the Clio versus 18 852 units for the Sandero (source: Dataforce). Despite topping the table, both models recorded declines compared with April 2024: down 3% for the Renault Clio and, more worryingly, down 26,6% for the Dacia Sandero.

They were not the only models in April’s European top 10 to fall, and Sandero’s drop was not even the steepest - that belonged to the Volkswagen Golf (7th place), down 28,9%. Still, several cars posted a notably strong April.

The first to mention is the Volkswagen Tiguan, which completed the podium of best-sellers with 17 027 units - an increase of 2,3% compared with the same month last year.

Biggest risers and fallers among April’s best-sellers

Within the top 10, the strongest performances came from the Citroën C3 (+7,4%), the Dacia Duster (+10,1%) and the Toyota Yaris Cross (+13%), which delivered the biggest gains.

In the opposite direction, the Volkswagen Golf (-28,9%) and the T-Roc (-20,8%) posted two of the sharpest drops. The Peugeot 208 (-8,3%) and the Toyota Yaris (-11,6%) also ended April in negative territory.

Outside the top 10, the standout among Europe’s best-selling cars in April was the Volkswagen ID.7, which surged by an extraordinary 634,2% in sales. Strong growth was also seen for the Peugeot 3008 (+77,1%), the Jeep Avenger (+64%), the FIAT Ducato (+45%) and the MINI Cooper (+40%).

By contrast, the Toyota Corolla (-28,5%), Skoda Octavia (-25,2%), Volkswagen Polo (-23,1%), Ford Puma (-21,9%) and BMW 3 Series (-21,4%) were among the models with the biggest April declines. Tesla did not place a single model in the top 50 best-selling cars in Europe in April.

What about the year-to-date totals?

The Dacia Sandero may have missed out on April’s top spot, but it remains the year-to-date leader with 87 565 units sold - 10,5% fewer than in the same period of 2024.

The battle for second is intense and is being fought between the French arch-rivals Peugeot 208 (75 108 units and -1% versus 2024) and Renault Clio (74 659 units and +2,7%). After four months of sales, fewer than 500 units separate them, with the 208 holding the advantage.

Looking further down the list to the 50 best-selling cars in Europe so far this year, the Volkswagen ID.4 (+71,1%), Peugeot 3008 (+52,3%) and Jeep Avenger (+44,5%) stand out for their very significant growth.

Meanwhile, the Tesla Model Y has suffered the largest fall, down 48,3%, and now sits in 33rd position. The Model 3 is declining by less (-17%), but appears only in 49th place among the 50 best-selling models in Europe.