Did the VW PR dept come good then?
MK3 39.766 Year 92-98
That tells a (FAILING) story in itself.

glad im driving the best mk!
Dan
Looking at it though; they sold an average of 8923 Mk2's per year and 8840 per year of the mk4's that's mental considering the mk4's not much better than the mk3!! imo!
MK1 17,039 Year 79-84 - 2840 p/year
MK2 80,307 Year 84-92 - 8923 p/year
MK3 39,766 Year 92-98 - 5681 p/year
MK4 61,879 Year 98-04 - 8840 p/year
MK5 18,223 Year 05-08 - 4556 p/year
Obviously rough calculations (based on inclusive years, ie 79 to 84 = 6 full years) and rounded up/down.
But that also shows that the Mk3 outsold the Mk5 per year. And certainly proves that the Mk2 and Mk4 were the most popular GTIs to buy new.