France July 2013: Dacia Sandero on podium, Renault Captur #5

August 3, 2013
Matt Gasnier

The Dacia Sandero is on the French podium for only the 2nd time ever.

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July 2012 was the worst in 20 years, so that was not a hard target to beat. Even then, French new car sales needed one more working day to post a year-on-year increase this month at a very shy +0.9% to 150,248 registrations. The year-to-date total now stands at 1,081,724 units, down 10% on 2012. The Renault Clio IV keeps the advantage, ranking #1 for the 5th time this year thanks to 7,550 sales and 5% share vs. 7,164 and 4.8% for the Peugeot 208. Both models lodge market shares below their year-to-date levels of 5.9% and 5.4% respectively.

The Renault Captur lodges a 2nd consecutive month within the French Top 5.

The big event this month is the third place of the Dacia Sandero at 5,436 units and 3.6%. This is the 2nd generation’s best performance so far and the nameplate’s second time on the French monthly podium after March 2010 when it ranked #2 and sold an out-of-this-world 14,498 units for a 6% market share. The Sandero goes from #10 halfway through the year to #6 after 7 months with 25,185 sales and 2.3%. This performance pushes Dacia to a historical 6.5% share vs. 5% year-to-date.

The Peugeot 2008 breaks into the Top 10 for the first time this month.

Now onto the very exciting duel between the two new local mini-SUVs. The Renault Captur baffled everyone last month by landing directly in 4th place, it reiterates an equally impressive performance in July at #5 with 4,095 sales and 2.7% vs. 2.8% in June. The Peugeot 2008 for its part breaks into the French monthly for the first time thanks to 3,092 units and 2.1%, the same market share as in June.

The new generation Citroen C4 Picasso is #14 this month.

There is no foreigner in the Top 10 this month: the the VW Golf VII is up 2 spots to #11 and the VW Polo down 5 to #12 while the Peugeot 308 is back up 8 ranks to #9 due to run-out prices for the current generation and the Citroen C4 II Picasso confirms its solid start at #14 with 2,623 sales and 1.7%. The Audi A3 is up 8 ranks to #27, the BMW 1 Series up 20 to #29, Toyota RAV4 up 14 to #43, Opel Mokka up 35 to #48 and the Hyundai i20 is up 37 to #51.

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