Netherlands August 2014: Peugeot 308 leads, 108 up to #6

Peugeot 308

* See the Top 175 best-selling models and Top 40 All-brands by clicking on the title! *

New car sales in the Netherlands are down a worrying 9% year-on-year to 25,722 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 254,450 units, down 6% on 2013. Volkswagen remains the most popular manufacturer in the country in August with 3,170 sales and 12.3% share, but the star of the month is Peugeot, placing the 308 in pole position for the 2nd time in the past 3 months with 1,140 sales and 4.4% and the 108 shooting up to #6 at 706 units and 2.7%. All-in-all, the French carmaker sells 2,874 cars in the country for a 11.2% share, enabling it to overtake Renault in the year-to-date charts and also rank #2 below Volkswagen there. Before reading further, it’s worth keeping in mind the Dutch new car market is shaped by preferential pricing attributed to the most eco-friendly variants of some models. This pricing impacts the amount of tax the car buyer is paying and can mean a model goes from no sale one month to #1 the next as one variant entered the preferential pricing list.

BMW 2 Series

In this context, other great performers this month include the VW Polo up 4 spots on July to #2 and 4% share vs. #11 and 2.1% year-to-date, the Seat Leon up 8 ranks to #13, the Renault Mégane back up 20 spots to #23 vs. #60 year-to-date but #4 in 2013, the BMW 2 Series up to #32 with 225 sales vs. #127 and 352 units so far in 2014, the VW Golf Sportsvan at #35, Citroen C4 Cactus at #72 and the Mercedes GLA at #80. Year-to-date, the VW Golf dominates with 10,611 sales and 4.2% above the Renault Clio at 9,920 units and 3.9% and the Skoda Octavia at 7,693 sales and 3%.

Previous month: Netherlands July 2014: Volvo V40 and Peugeot 308 on top

One year ago: Netherlands August 2013: Renault Clio #1, Chevrolet Volt takes off

Full August 2014 Top 175 models and Top 40 All-brands Ranking Tables below.