France 1991: Peugeot 205 keeps Renault Clio at bay

Peugeot 205

* See the Top 217 best-selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at end of post! Many thanks to STAC for making this post possible! *

Tough year for new car sales in France with a market down 12% year-on-year at 2,031,274 registrations. Surprise on top: we were expecting the Renault Clio to logically take the relay of the Supercinq and dominate French car sales for its first full year, but the Peugeot 205 resists and holds the pole position again this year with 200,781 sales and 9.9%, ranking first 9 months out of 12.

Renault Clio

The Renault Clio has a solid year albeit in 2nd place overall at 193,430 units and 9.5%. It ranked #1 for the first time in June when it tied with the 205, then reiterated this feat in September, October and December, peaking at a promising 12.5% market share in October…

The Renault 19 jumps back onto the podium at #3 with 118,275 sales and 5.8%, ahead of the Renault 21 (5.4%), Peugeot 405 (5.2% and ranking 3rd twice) and Citroen AX (4.7%). The Ford Fiesta is the best-selling foreign model at an excellent 7th place with 72,777 sales and 3.6% share.

Ford Orion

Extraordinary performance for the duo Ford Escort/Orion, respectively #12 (+52%) and #21 (+187%), totalling 83,643 sales for a cumulative 4.1% share. If those two models were named the same way they would have beaten the market share record for a foreign model in France. All this because diesel versions were sold at the petrol versions’ price throughout the year…

The best newcomers are the Citroen ZX at #9 with 64,261 sales and 3.2% and the Peugeot 106 at #18 and 26,547 units. It launched in September and ranked 6th in November with only 3-door petrol versions available for now. Further down the ranking, notice the Ferrari Testarossa at #162 with 91 sales and the Lamborghini Diablo at #188 with 24 units sold…

Previous year: see the France 1990 Top 100 best-selling models here.

Full Year 1991 Top 217 and each monthly Top 10 Ranking Tables below.