France March 2012: Peugeot 208 lands at #16, Nissan impresses

Peugeot 208

* See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

French car sales continue on their downward trend at -23% year-on-year in March to 197,033 registrations, with the year-to-date total at 507,089 units, down 22% on 2011. The Renault Clio is #1 for the 10th consecutive month with 12,420 sales and 6.3%, way above the Peugeot 207 at 8,942 units and 4.5%. This should change soon with the arrival of the Peugeot 208: officially launched on March 29, pre-orders deliveries enabled it to rank within the Top 10 over the 20-26 March week and #16 over the full month with 3,030 sales and 1.5% share.

Nissan Qashqai

Other notable movements include the Renault Megane passing the Citroen C3 in the year-to-date ranking at #3 and the Peugeot 3008 up 6 spots on February to #7, its best ranking in 9 months. No less than 5 models in the Top 50 (6 with the 208) break their French monthly ranking record this month, and two of them are Nissans. The Qashqai is up to a best-ever 15th place with 3,114 sales and 1.6% while the Juke breaks into the Top 20 for the first time at #20 with 2,390 units and 1.2%, making Nissan the first Japanese brand to place 2 models in the French Top 20.

Nissan Juke

VW Tiguan

The VW Tiguan is also up to a best-ever 21st place thanks to 2,371 sales, the Audi A1 up to a record #36 at 1,500 units and the Citroen DS5 is up 5 spots to #45 with 1,278 sales, its highest ever ranking in France and in the world so far. Notice also the Suzuki Swift up 14 ranks to #52, the VW Up! up 35 spots to #61 and the Dacia Lodgy selling 117 units for its first month of sales in the country.

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

Previous month: France February 2012: Mercedes B Class and Kia Rio impress

One year ago: France March 2011: Citroen C3 and Dacia Duster beat records

Full March 2012 Top 100 Ranking Table below.