New Caledonia (France) Full Year 2015: Duster threatens Ranger

The Dacia Duster ranked #1 in New Caledonia for 3 consecutive months in 2015…

* See the Top 40 All-brands and Top 230 All-models by clicking on the title *

Contrary to metropolitan France, new car sales in New Caledonia, a small French Overseas Territory located north-east of Australia, are down frankly at -8% to 9.131 registrations. Ford remains the most popular brand choice despite sales down a harsh 15% to 1.089 and 11.9% share, but there’s a lot of change below… Dacia shoots up five spots and 23% to 2nd place overall with 818 units and 9% share, Peugeot is up 9% and one rank to #3, Toyota is down 19% and two to #4, Citroen up 5% and Renault down 27%. Hyundai (-39%) and Chevrolet (-27%) also would rather forget about 2015. Another big difference with metropolitan France, Chinese brands are able to operate in New Caledonia due to less stringent security and pollution laws, but they only represent 2.5% of the market and are going out of fashion fast: Great Wall is down 14% to #17, BYD down 46% to #28 and ZhengZhou/Dongfeng down 48% to #29.

…but the Ford Ranger holds onto the annual pole position for now.

Over in the models ranking, the Ford Ranger manages to hold onto the pole position for the 7th year running despite sales down a harsh 29% to 586. The Ranger is under serious threat from the Dacia Duster, up 8% to #2 and even #1 for three consecutive months this year. The Toyota Hilux (-28%) and Isuzu D-Max (+16%) makes it three pickups in the Top 4, and the Citroen C4 Cactus is up 126% to land inside the Top 10 for its first full year in market, a much warmer reception than in metropolitan France.

Previous month: New Caledonia (France) November 2015: Toyota Hilux leads

Previous year: New Caledonia (France) Full Year 2014: Ford Ranger cements lead

Two years ago: New Caledonia (France) Full Year 2013: Ford Ranger & Toyota Hilux dominate

Full Year 2015 Top 40 All-brands and Top 230 All-models vs. Full Year 2014 figures below.