France 2005: Scenic #1 in 1st Half, Clio takes the lead in full year

Renault Scenic

* See the Top 150 best-selling models by clicking on ‘Read more’ at end of post! *

The best selling models followed a particular pattern in France this year: the first half was dominated by the Peugeot 206 (#1 in Jan, Feb & March) and the Renault Scenic, in the lead in April, May and June and #1 overall at the 6 months mark.

Helped by the launch of the 3rd generation, the Renault Clio then took the lead in August and never looked back, even reaching 9.5% market share in November and an advance of 75% over the #2. It grabbed the pole position for the whole year with 132,982 sales and 6.4% share.

Renault Clio III

The Peugeot 206 finishes the year 2nd at 5.8% followed by the Renault Scenic and Peugeot 307 both at 5.5%. The Citroen C3, 5th, reached its best-ever share in May at 4.5%.

The Peugeot 407 is 7th for its first full year, reaching a best-ever 5th place and 4.2% share in May, and the Citroen C4, #8, broke into the Top 10 definitively in January, peaking at 4.1% in February and #6 in October.

Peugeot 1007

The ‘oddity’ of the year is the Renault Modus: after starting like a rocket in late 2004 it only delievered 2 months at #5 (Feb & June) before slipping out of the Top 10 from October onwards. It is 9th overall. Notice the Peugeot 1007 spending 4 months in the Top 20, peaking at #16 and 1.4% in September.

French models did really well this year, with no foreign car managing to rank within the Top 12 in June nor October. The best-selling foreign model for the year is the VW Golf at #11. 2005 is also the year the Dacia Logan launched in France, reaching an outstanding 15th place in November with 2,725 sales (1.6%).

Full Year 2005 Top 150 and every Monthly Top 20 Ranking Table below.