Sales of the Dacia Sandero rose 42 percent in Europe in April.
The Dacia Sandero is poised to be Europe's No. 1 seller for the second time in four months.
Dacia sold 17,257 units of the small hatchback last month, a gain of 42 percent over the same month last year. The Sandero was also Europe's No. 1 seller in January.
Two vehicles stand in the Sandero's way for the top slot in April: the Opel/Vauxhall Corsa and Volkswagen T-Roc, according to preliminary figures from market researcher Dataforce.
Opel sold 15,930 units of the small hatchback last month, a gain of 39 percent, leaving it 1,327 units behind the Sandero, according to data representing 90 percent of sales in the European Union plus ETFA countries and the U.K.
The T-Roc is 1,480 units behind the Sandero. It is also just 153 units behind the Corsa.
The Renault Clio had sales of 15,185 units last month, which means it is also in the mix for a strong placing in April.
The bottom line is that there could be some changes in the ranking once the numbers for April are final.
Missing from the top five is the Tesla Model Y, which was Europe's best-seller in February and March. The electric midsize SUV was in 21st place with an April volume of 9,055 units. Those sales represented a huge year over year increase for Tesla, according to the preliminary numbers, but were nowhere close to the 46,282 Model Ys Tesla sold in March.
The sales slowdown means that the Model Y might lose its overall European sales lead to the Sandero, which is ahead 73,785 to 73,558, according to Dataforce's preliminary figures. It's worth mentioning that the Model Y's starting price in Germany is 44,890 euros while the Sandero's is 11,300 euros.
Dacia is likely to have two models in the top 10 for April, with the Duster small SUV joining the Sandero.
VW is poised to have three models in the top 10: the T-Roc, Tiguan and Golf.
In April, eight of the models in the top 10 recorded sales increases, according to Dataforce's preliminary figures. The only exceptions were the Peugeot 208 and Ford Puma.
The other cars in the top 50 with big gains in April were the Skoda Octavia (+222 percent); Dacia Jogger (+162 percent); and MG ZS (+143 percent).
