7. Volkswagen Polo (2016: 7th)
This was a run-out year for the outgoing Volkswagen Polo, with the first of the all-new model hitting showrooms about now. A big push to clear stocks of the old model saw the Polo start the year strongly, but in then fell out of the top ten charts in the last few months as supply essentially ran out ahead of production starting on the new car.
The Polo held its seventh position from 2016, despite a 12% drop of more than 6,000 sales (47,855 registrations in 2017 vs. 54,448 in 2016) as sales tailed off at the end of the year. It just edged out MINI hatch in the final numbers by less than 200 sales.
Whether the new model can maintain the momentum will depend on how aggressive Volkswagen gets with its PCP offers, and whether there will ever be any real consumer pushback against Volkswagen for its ongoing Dieselgate scandal (which now appears unlikely).
