France: 1990-2010 Historical Data now available!
Renault Clio
Click on ‘Read more’ at end of post for the direct links to these 21 articles!
Thanks to STAC I can now share with you detailed French yearly rankings since 1990! The 90s were the decade of the Renault Clio: launched in 1990, after two years of Peugeot 205 domination it started its reign in 1992 when it lodged what still remains its best year so far at 233,209 sales and 11.1% share. It then ranked #1 for 5 consecutive years until 1996 and 7 more times after that, the last year being 2006, spanning 3 generations of the model.
Peugeot 206
In September 1998, Peugeot launched the 206 and it was the successor to the 205 the brand had been waiting for. It ranked 1st in 2001, being the last model to sell over 200,000 yearly units in France, and 2004. 7.4 million units of the 206 were produced compared to 5.3 million 205. It was replaced in April 2006 by the Peugeot 207, also an instant hit and #1 for 4 consecutive years from 2007 to 2010.
Renault Megane Scenic
The Renault Megane managed to top the French year-end ranking in 1997 thanks to its Scenic MPV version which would later be counted as a separate model. Witness also the success of the Renault Twingo, Laguna, Peugeot 306, 106, 406, Citroen Saxo, Xsara and Picasso. In 1996 the first Korean model, the Daewoo Nexia, ranks within the year-end Top 50 and in January 2007 the first Japanese car breaks into the monthly Top 10: the Toyota Yaris.
See ‘Read more’ below for all articles and the French best-sellers from 1949 to 2010!
France Historical Data:
France 1990: Peugeot 205 reclaims top spot, Renault Clio arrives
France 1991: Peugeot 205 keeps Renault Clio at bay
France 1992: The Renault Clio starts its reign
France 1993: Renault Clio miles away from the competition
France 1994: Renault Clio leads, Peugeot 306 and 106 on podium
France 1995: Renault Clio #1, Twingo gets better
France 1996: Renault Clio softer, Megane already #2
France 1997: Renault Megane snaps up pole position!
France 1998: Renault Clio reclaims top spot
France 1999: The Renault Clio/Peugeot 206 match has started
France 2000: Renault Clio winner ahead of 206 and Scenic
France 2001: Peugeot 206 leads with 211,000 sales
France 2002: Renault Clio edges Peugeot 206 out, 307 above 7%
France 2003: Renault Clio, Peugeot 206 & 307 leading again
France 2004: Peugeot 206 passes Renault Clio, Modus off to a great start
France 2005: Renault Scenic #1 in First Half, Clio leader in Full Year
France 2006: Renault Clio III #1, Peugeot 207 gearing up
France 2007: Peugeot 207 #1, Citroen C4 Picasso #4, Toyota Yaris & Dacia Logan at best-ever
France 2008: Peugeot 207 #1, 308 #3
France 2009: Peugeot 207 #1, Renault Twingo #3
France 2010: Peugeot 207 #1 for the 4th consecutive year
1949-2010 France Historical Data:
Click on the year or the best-seller to access the full article (Note before 1978 some years are grouped into one article so you may link to the same article more than once).
| Year | France Best-seller | Sales | Share |
| 1949 | Renault 4CV | n/a | n/a |
| 1950 | Renault 4CV | 50,291 | 28.9% |
| 1951 | Renault 4CV | n/a | n/a |
| 1952 | Renault 4CV | n/a | n/a |
| 1953 | Renault 4CV | n/a | n/a |
| 1954 | Renault 4CV | n/a | n/a |
| 1955 | Renault 4CV | n/a | n/a |
| 1956 | Simca Aronde | n/a | n/a |
| 1957 | Renault Dauphine | n/a | n/a |
| 1958 | Renault Dauphine(p) | 280,000 | 30.9% |
| 1959 | Renault Dauphine(p) | 395,000 | 38.3% |
| 1960 | Renault Dauphine(p) | 382,000 | 36.1% |
| 1961 | Renault Dauphine(p) | 267,000 | 36.1% |
| 1962 | Renault 4L (p) | 197,000 | 15.5% |
| 1963 | Renault 4L (p) | 233,000 | 15.9% |
| 1964 | Renault 4L | n/a | n/a |
| 1965 | Renault 4L (p) | 182,000 | 12.8% |
| 1966 | Citroen Ami 6 | 165,000 | n/a |
| 1967 | Renault 4 | 170,000 | 13.8% |
| 1968 | Renault 4 | 174,000 | 13.4% |
| 1969 | Peugeot 204 | 150,000 | 11.0% |
| 1970 | Peugeot 204 | n/a | n/a |
| 1971 | Peugeot 204 | n/a | n/a |
| 1972 | Simca 1100 | n/a | n/a |
| 1973 | Renault 12 | n/a | n/a |
| 1974 | Renault 5 | 154,000 | 11.0% |
| 1975 | Renault 5 | 151,200 | 10.2% |
| 1976 | Renault 5 | 165,382 | 8.9% |
| 1977 | Renault 5 | n/a | 10.1% |
| 1978 | Renault 5 | n/a | 10.0% |
| 1979 | Renault 5 | n/a | 10.8% |
| 1980 | Renault 5 | 299,712 | 16.0% |
| 1981 | Renault 5 | 282,486 | 15.4% |
| 1982 | Renault 5 | 265,748 | 12.9% |
| 1983 | Renault 5 | 211,094 | 10.5% |
| 1984 | Peugeot 205 | 171,702 | 9.8% |
| 1985 | Peugeot 205 | 226,974 | 12.9% |
| 1986 | Renault Supercinq | 219,570 | 11.5% |
| 1987 | Renault Supercinq | 239,660 | 11.4% |
| 1988 | Renault Supercinq | 241,653 | 10.9% |
| 1989 | Renault Supercinq | 236,929 | 10.4% |
| 1990 | Peugeot 205 | 229,044 | 9.9% |
| 1991 | Peugeot 205 | 200,781 | 9.9% |
| 1992 | Renault Clio | 233,209 | 11.1% |
| 1993 | Renault Clio | 172,881 | 10.0% |
| 1994 | Renault Clio | 194,034 | 9.8% |
| 1995 | Renault Clio | 170,269 | 8.8% |
| 1996 | Renault Clio | 163,396 | 7.7% |
| 1997 | Renault Megane | 143,821 | 8.4% |
| 1998 | Renault Clio | 166,937 | 8.6% |
| 1999 | Renault Clio | 180,302 | 8.4% |
| 2000 | Renault Clio | 187,660 | 8.8% |
| 2001 | Peugeot 206 | 211,220 | 9.4% |
| 2002 | Renault Clio | 188,210 | 8.8% |
| 2003 | Renault Clio | 162,979 | 8.1% |
| 2004 | Peugeot 206 | 151,250 | 7.5% |
| 2005 | Renault Clio | 132,382 | 6.4% |
| 2006 | Renault Clio | 134,001 | 6.7% |
| 2007 | Peugeot 207 | 131,623 | 6.4% |
| 2008 | Peugeot 207 | 136,283 | 6.6% |
| 2009 | Peugeot 207 | 131,333 | 5.8% |
| 2010 | Peugeot 207 | 126,854 | 5.6% |
(p): production figure
Source: Wikipedia, L’Auto Journal, Auto Plus, many thanks to STAC and Vavon for sharing the data!
