France 1-20 August 2012: Peugeot 208 #1, Dacia Lodgy in Top10!

August 26, 2012
Matt Gasnier

Dacia Lodgy

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

Over the first 3 weeks of August, the French new car market is down 6% year-on-year to 50,400 registrations. Brand-wise, Peugeot leads with 8,908 sales and 17.7% ahead of Citroen at 6,996 units and 13.9% and Renault at 6,556 and 13% but no doubt Renault will come back up over the last few days of the month as it usually does.

This is it, the Peugeot 208 is the new king of the French market, and it’s not kidding. After grabbing the pole position for the first time in July, the little lion takes off in August, clocking in no less than 3,693 sales in 3 weeks for a stunning 7.3% market share. If it holds this level until the end of the month, it will be the highest market share of any model in France since the promotion-boosted 9.4% reached by the Renault Clio in September 2011 and the highest share for a Peugeot since the Peugeot 207 hit 7.3% in September 2008… As a reminder the highest ever monthly market share posted by the Peugeot 207 is 7.7% in February 2008.

Peugeot 208

The other big event of the period in France is delivered by the Dacia Lodgy. As I predicted in May, the Lodgy breaks into the French Top 10 for the first time with 1,071 sales and 2.1%, in fact only 11 units away from the 7th place! If the Lodgy keeps its Top 10 spot until the end of the month, it will mean each Dacia released since Renault relaunched the brand in 2004 has managed to rank within the French monthly Top 10: the Logan peaked at #7 in December 2007, the Sandero at #2 in March 2010 and the Duster at #5 in November 2011.

The success of the Lodgy is probably even greater in the French countryside as I pointed out in my last French Photo report…