Since its birth in 1974, the Golf has been an undisputed success for Volkswagen, and from the fourth generation until today, the benchmark against which any newcomer must measure itself.

Proof, if any was needed, is the impressive production number that exceeds 34 million examples in total for the hatchback, estate and Sportsvan, including almost 1 million put together this year alone.

“The Golf hatchback retained a commanding lead in its segment in Germany and Europe. The Golf estate recorded the strongest growth in the Golf family, at 11+ percent, compared with the previous year”, Volkswagen said.

However, the German car brand’s strongest growth in 2017 came from the Tiguan, whose sales rose by 40 percent compared to last year. In total, 730,000 units of the SUV were shipped to customers worldwide, with most orders coming from China and Germany.

Retaining a commanding lead in the MPV segment in Germany is the Touran. The minivan is quite popular in other European markets as well, and it brought important revenue for the Group in 2017 with approximately 150,000 units being shipped to customers worldwide.

The Volkswagen Group has yet to release their annual sales and revenue numbers, so it remains to be seen whether they can retain their dominant position, or if the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance will grab first place, as it did in the first six months of 2017.

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