Dacia Sandero is Europe's top-seller in January

The Dacia Sandero was Europe's No. 1 seller for the second consecutive January.

Dacia sold 19,346 units of the small hatchback last month, a gain 20 percent on the same month last year.

The Sandero's volume of 16,193 in January 2022 was also good enough for the Renault subsidiary to win the best-seller title for that month.

The Volkswagen T-Roc was No. 2 in January with a volume of 16,723, a gain of 32 percent on the same month last year, according to preliminary figures from market researcher Dataforce.

The Toyota Yaris rounded out the top three with sales of 14,037 units, a rise of 54 percent, according to data representing about 93 percent of sales in the European Union plus ETFA countries and UK.

Dacia, VW and Toyota were the only brands to have two models among Europe's top 10-sellers in January.

The VW Tiguan was fourth, followed by the Toyota Yaris Cross while the Dacia Duster finished the month at No. 9.

In January, nine of the models in the top 10 recorded sales increases, according to Dataforce's preliminary figures. The only exception was the Peugeot 208, which was down 19 percent.

It's a slow start for the 208, which was Europe's No. 1-seller overall in 2022, with a volume of more than 199,300 last year, according to Dataforce.

The Sandero finished 2022 as Europe's No. 2 seller with more than 191,000 sales.

The other cars in the top 50 with big gains were the VW Taigo and T-Cross (+200 percent and +35 percent, respectively); the Tesla Model Y increased sales to 6,889 last month from 257 during January 2022; and the Jeep Renegade was the No. 46 seller in Europe last month because of a 54 percent gain in volume.