Spain 1998: Seat Ibiza holds off Renault Megane, Citroen Xsara on podium in record market

The Seat Ibiza scores a third consecutive pole position at home.

New car registrations in Spain surge 16.8% year-on-year in 1998 to break an all-time annual volume record dating back to 1989 to 1.166.748 units. Renault (+24.3%), Seat (+19.8%) and Citroen (+18.7%) all outpace the market in a podium unchanged on 1997. Ford (+8.5%) overtakes Opel (+5%) for #$ ahead of Peugeot (+5.6%) closing up the list of brands selling over 100.000 units in Spain this year. Skoda (+143.9%), Alfa Romeo (+98.2%) and Daewoo (+72.3%) score the largest gains in the Top 20. Citroen (+18.3%) easily holds onto the LCV brands top spot while Renault (+30%) overtakes Nissan (+4.5%) for #2.

The Renault Megane remains at #2 in Spain.

A previous version of this article had the Renault Megane as the 1998 best-seller, however these figures included the Megane Scenic, now separated. This way, the Seat Ibiza (+23.1%) manages a third straight year at #1 above the Renault Megane (+29.6%) while the Citroen Xsara (+670.6%) brilliantly ends its first full year of sales on the third step pf the podium. The Ford Escort (+10.2%) and Opel Corsa (-1.1%) round out the Top 5 while the Seat Cordoba (+19.4%) breaks into the Top 10. Halfway through the year, Citroen places 3 models in the Top 10 (Xsara, Saxo and Xantia), however the Xantia disappears from the Top 10 by year-end.

The Citroen Xsara brilliantly lands on the podium for its first full year.

The Citroen Berlingo (+16.3%) snaps the LCV models lead while the Renault Kangoo (+721.6%) ends its first full year of sales only 240 sales off the #1 spot.

Full 1998 Top 50 All-brands, Top 255 All-models, Top 35 All LCV brands and Top 120 All LCV models vs. Full 1997 figures below.

H1 1998 Top 10 models below.