France 1-25 February 2013: VW Golf & Dacia Duster on the verge of breaking historical records

VW Golf

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New car  sales in France seem to stabilise somehow this month, at -6% year-on-year over the first 25 days of February to 110,040 registrations. A lot can still happen in 3 days especially as many manufacturers tend to register sales at the very end of the month but as it stands, there are still a few surprises in the ranking, of the type that should appear at the start of the month but should have returned to normal by now. The first source of suspense is for the pole position, and in this we return to the traditional battle of the Peugeot-Renault superminis: the 208 has been in the lead all the way up to now but its lead has thawed to only 41 units over the Clio 4 at 6,006 sales and 5.5% vs. 5,965 and 5.4%. Over the last week alone, the Clio 4 sold 2,077 units (5.6%) vs. 1,642 (4.5%) for the 208. Chances are the Clio 4 will finish the month at #1 for only the second time ever after last November.

Dacia Duster

The second surprise is to see the VW Golf still holding onto a fantastic third spot with 3,480 sales and 3.2%, up 19% year-on-year and selling 1,006 units last week which placed it at #5 still. If the Golf stays #3, it will become only the 2nd foreign model to rank within the monthly French podium with its lil sis the VW Polo…  The Dacia Duster resists beautifully in 4th position with 3,380 sales and 2.9%, up 69% year-on-year and selling 1,014 units last week (#4). If brought till the end of the month, this would become its highest ever monthly ranking in France, with its current record being #5 in November 2011.

Citroen C4

But wait there’s more: the Citroen C4 ranks 5th with only 3 days left in February, if maintained this would also be its highest ever French monthly ranking, beating the #6 spot it hit in October 2005, August 2006 and February 2007. Notice also the VW Polo still extremely robust at #6, the Renault Scenic up to #7 thanks to 1,154 sales and 3.1% over the last week (#3) and the Renault Twingo back inside the Top 10 for the first time this year at #9.

Previous post: France 1-18 February 2013: VW Golf still on podium

Previous month: France January 2013: Now with updated data

One year ago: France 1-20 February 2013: Renault Clio and Citroen C4 impress

Full 1-25 February 2013 Top 10 models and brands Ranking Tables below.