With about 27 per cent of all car sales here, the B segment has shown growth for the early 2003 selling period. In the January-February sales, Nissan's new Micra ruled the roost with 1,843 cars registered, closely followed by Ford's Fiesta (1,792).
The usual segment leader, Fiat Punto (1,776) came in third this time, recording a 23 per cent drop in unit sales.
Peugeot's 206, Europe's best-selling car, slumped by a fifth to 1,414 units, while VW's Polo did much better than last year, moving 1,078 cars compared to 554 in the same period in 2002.
Toyota's Yaris (1,046) dipped by almost a third, while Opel's Corsa (880) nearly halved its sales. Renault's Clio (732) lost ground by more than 31 per cent, while Ford's Fusion (637) did better than many might have expected.
Among the more satisfied people are the SEAT importers, who saw the new Ibiza (591) surge by 172 per cent, and newcomer Daewoo Kalos also did the business, going from scratch to 568. Similarly, Citroen's new C3 (499) more than made up for the drop in Saxo sales in the lower segment.
Skoda's Fabia (422) lost a quarter of its sales, but Hyundai's Getz (358) put that newcomer from the ambitious Korean maker well up the league. Honda's Jazz (102) slipped from its 123 of the year before, while the iconic MINI (94) more or less held its position.
Another big loser was MG Rover, who saw its ageing MG ZR (84) and Rover 25 (55) only trickle from the showrooms.
• Figures in brackets: first figure - sales for Jan-Feb 2003/second figure - sales for Jan-Feb 2002.