Tahiti (France) Full Year 2014: Ranger and Duster edge past Hilux

Bora Bora, Tahiti

* See the Top 50 best-selling models and Top 10 brands by clicking on the title *

Tahiti is the largest island in French Polynesia, a French overseas collectivity located in the South Pacific Ocean 4.400 km (2.734 mi) south of Hawaii  and 5,700 km (3,542 mi) east of Australia. French Polynesia as a whole is composed of 118 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than 2.000 km (1.200 mi). As the main island of the group, Tahiti is often synonymous with French Polynesia and this article should be taken as covering the whole of French Polynesia. Tahiti’s population of 183.645 inhabitants makes it the most populous island of French Polynesia, accounting for 68.5% of its total population. Tahiti was part of the Kingdom of Tahiti until its annexation by France in 1880, although it was not until 1946 that indigenous Tahitians were legally authorised to be French citizens.

The Ford Ranger is the best-selling vehicle in Tahiti

In 2014, the Tahitian new car market is up 5% to 4.664 registrations, and Ford is the most popular manufacturer with a stable 11.5% market share, while the rest of the Top 10 is completely reshuffled compared to 2013: Peugeot is up one spot to #2 and 9% share despite sales down 4%, Dacia is up a spectacular 25% and 4 ranks to land on the third step of the podium, outselling Hyundai (+7%) and Renault (+11%) by just one unit… Toyota is down 21% to #6 and Kia down 6% to #7.

Tahiti location (picture courtesy worldatlas.com)

We witness a momentous event in the Tahitian models ranking in 2014: both the Ford Ranger (+1%) and Dacia Duster (+29%) dethrone the Toyota Hilux from the pole position it held in 2013, giving the sales charts a distinctly similar flavour to the other South Pacific overseas French collectivity: New Caledonia. The Hyundai ix35, Peugeot 207, Renault Clio and Nissan Navara are also strong sellers here.

Full Year 2014 Top 50 models and Top 10 brands vs. Full Year 2013 figures below.