France 1983: Renault 5 celebrates 10 years in first place

Renault 5

* See the Top 22 best-selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at end of post! *

For the second consecutive year the French new car market is above 2 million units at 2.02 this year, down 2%. The Renault 5 celebrates its 10th year in a row atop the models ranking but drops 21% year-on-year at 211,094 sales and 10.5% share.

Renault 9

The year had started with a shock: for the first time in at least 8 years, the Renault 5 was not leading the monthly ranking in January: the Renault 9 confirmed its outstanding ’82 finish by ranking #1 in January at 10.7% share vs. 9.8% for the Renault 5! The 9 finishes the year in 3rd position at 129,273 units and 6.4% share. That is because the hatchback version of the 9, the Renault 11, launched to great success this year: directly at #2 with 8.6% share in April and staying #2 every single month after that to total 135,341 sales and 6.7% share at year-end.

Renault 11

With the Renault 18 down to #4 at 109,097 units and 5.4%, Renault places 4 models in the Top 4 which I’m pretty certain had never happened before in France, for any brand not just Renault for that matter…

In 1983 the Peugeot 205 launched, but only in 4-door and it actually didn’t compete at the highest level this year, peaking at a disappointing 3rd place at 6.5% share in June. It finishes the year at #6 with 103,017 sales and 5.1%, still below the Peugeot 305 (5.2%). Notice the Citroen BX breaking into the Top 10 for its first full year of sales at #7 and 4.5% share.

Previous year: See the 1982 France Top 25 best-selling models here.

Full year 1983 Top 22 and every monthly Top 10 Ranking Tables below.