January is the month of automotive sales summaries around the world. We are still waiting for Toyota’s global sales figures, which are expected to be published in the coming days, to determine which car was the best-selling vehicle worldwide: The RAV4 or the Tesla Model Y. We already know that in the United States, Ford F-Series pickups led the market for the 49th consecutive year. In Germany, it was the Volkswagen Golf for the 45th time. In China, the new small electric Geely Xingyuan topped the charts. Across the entire European market, it was once again the Dacia Sandero.
But there is also one country where the Porsche 911 was the best-selling car, in fact for the second consecutive year, with a 16 percent increase in sales. It is a country where Ferrari appears on the list of the ten best-selling manufacturers. And it is not one of the wealthy Gulf states, but it is indeed a principality.
Tiny Andorra, located in the Pyrenees in southern Europe, bordered by Spain on one side and France on the other, is an independent country with about 85,000 residents and an area of 467 square kilometers. It is a well-known tax haven and also enjoys strong income from tourism, including several prominent ski resorts that generate substantial revenue for many Andorran citizens, in a principality that is more than a thousand years old.
According to automotive analyst Felipe Muñoz, the car market in Andorra totals just over 2,000 vehicle sales per year. This year, 86 Porsche 911 units were sold, placing it ahead of the Toyota Yaris Cross (63 cars, roughly what Toyota Israel sells in three days), the Seat Arona (57), the Mercedes GLC (55), and the Cupra Formentor (47). Completing the top ten are the Renault Clio (43), Cupra Terramar (40), Mini Cooper (38), Ford Tourneo (36), and Hyundai Tucson (36).
The list of the ten best-selling automotive groups is also far from conventional. Volkswagen leads as it does in the rest of Europe, with 660 sales, but is followed immediately by BMW (283), Renault (253), Mercedes (200), and Toyota (193). Hyundai ranks sixth (190), followed by Stellantis (162), Ford (160), Ferrari (56), and Suzuki (50).