France 20-26 March 2012: Peugeot 208 breaks into Top 10!

Peugeot 208

* See the Top 10 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

Another slow week for the French new car market at 50,785 registrations, down 22% year-on-year. Faithful to its tradition of selling the majority of its models towards the end of the month, Renault reclaims the brands leadership at 20.2% share ahead of Peugeot (18%) and Citroen (15.3%). In the same vein, the Renault Clio thanks to 3,533 sales and 7% share this week reclaims the pole position in the month-to-date ranking at 5.5% vs. 5.1% for the Peugeot 207.

But the big event this week is the very first appearance in the weekly Top 10 of the all-new Peugeot 208, clearly this year’s most awaited model in the country with the Clio 4. Whereas its official launch is on March 29, early deliveries of pre-orders enable the 208 to climb to 10th position over the past week with 1,131 sales. It will be fascinating to follow its progression over the next weeks and months…

For the first time this year, there are no foreign models in the Top 10 with the Renault Megane grabbing the third spot at 2,112 sales and 4.2% ahead of the Citroen C3 at 3.8% and the Renault Scenic at 3.5%. The C3 is however still #3 month-to-date with a meagre 86 units advantage over the Megane. The Peugeot 3008 and 308 both gain one spot vs. last week while the Citroen C4 and C4 Picasso reappear in the Top 10.

Previous week: France 13-19 March 2012: Last days of glory for the Peugeot 207

Previous month: France February 2012: Mercedes B Class and Kia Rio impress (now with Top 200)

Full 20-26 March 2012 Top 10 Ranking Table below.