The C-sector model Sold 39,887 units in January 2008 - an improvement of 31.4 per cent year-on-year.

Peugeot came a close second, racking up sales of 37,506 units in January with its 207 small car, which was Europe's bestseller in 2007.

The Ford Focus came third with 33,884 units. JATO said the market overall for new cars was down by 1.7 per cent in January compared to the same month last year, with a total of 1.27 million units sold. Nasir Shah, global business development director for JATO said: “January tends to be a slow sales month in Europe, so it'll take a few more weeks to see how 2008 is shaping up. “Now that the German market has recovered at least from last year's VAT depression we should see it make a far greater contribution to European volumes this year. “We are already seeing a resurgence of the German brands as a result.”