France 1-22 October 2012: Citroen C4 #3, Nissan Qashqai in Top10

Citroen C4. Picture courtesy of L’Argus

* See the Top 10 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Many thanks to STAC *

October is shaping up to be quite an unusual month for new car sales in France. Over the first 3 weeks, the market is down a drastic 21% to 94,224 registrations. Brand-wise, big surprise: Citroen leads the way with 16,186 sales and 17.2% share, ahead of Peugeot at 16,071 and 17.1% and Renault at 11,688 and 12.4%, down 55% year-on-year… Volkswagen comes at #4 with 8,766 units and 9.3%, down just 5% while Toyota ranks 5th at 4,474 units, up 25% year-on-year.

The Peugeot 208 is the most popular model in the country over the period thanks to 5,575 sales for a 5.9% share, and is followed by 2 Citroens on the podium: the C3 is #2 at 4,244 units and 4.5% while the C4 is at an outstanding third place with 2,692 sales and 2.9%. If it manages to hold this position until the end of the month it will be by far the C4’s highest monthly ranking ever in France, beating the #6 it reached in October 2005.

Nissan Qashqai

The VW Polo holds itself extremely well this month at #4 with 2,555 units and 2.6%, as does the Peugeot 3008 at #5 with 2,414 sales: if it stays there until month-end it will equal its best-ever ranking reached in May 2011. The Renault Clio 3 is understandably in free fall, down 68% year-on-year to #6, however now that pre-sales to dealerships are complete, the Clio 4 only ranks 25th over the period.

Finally, notice the Nissan Qashqai hanging on to a spot in the Top 10 at #10 with 1,851 sales and 2%. One more week at that level and the Qashqai will become the only Japanese model ever to rank within the monthly French Top 10 with the Toyota Yaris which did it in January 2007 (#9) and March 2007 (#10).

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Previous month: France September 2012: Now with Top 200 best-selling models!

One year ago: France 1-24 October 2012: Dacia Duster at #6

Full 1-22 October 2012 Top 10 Ranking Table below.