France 1-18 March 2013: VW Golf and Opel Corsa shine

VW Golf

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Over the first 18 days of March the French market continues to slide down at -12% year-on-year to 70,450 registrations. The prediction from Auto Plus is a worrying drop of 18% by the time the month comes to an end. Model-wise, after being passed by the Renault Clio IV in February, the Peugeot 208 is in the lead with 4,224 sales and 6% but this shouldn’t last for too long… Renault is traditionally stronger in the second half of each month and the Clio IV is only 105 units behind at 4,119 which should place it in pole position once again by end of March.

Opel Corsa

Keeping in mind Renaults are normally slow to start each month, the Renault Megane is doing extremely well and ranks third with 2,707 sales and 3.8%, up 17% year-on-year. Boosted by the 7th generation, the VW Golf is up to a fantastic 4th place at 2,020 units and 2.9%, ahead of the Peugeot 3008 brilliant at #5. The Citroen C4 is up 2% year-on-year at #7 while in spite of being down 23% the Opel Corsa is up to #9, making it 3 foreigners in the Top 9. Brand-wise, Peugeot is temporarily on top, Dacia is up 44% and Ford down 50%.

Previous post: France February 2013: More detailed data available

Previous month: France February 2013: Renault Clio IV leads, Zoe in Top 100

One year ago: France 13-19 March 2012: Last days of glory for the Peugeot 207

Full 1-18 March 2013 Top 10 models and brands Ranking table below.