France 1-12 March 2014: Peugeot 308 up to 2nd place, Nissan Qashqai inside Top 10

The Peugeot 308 is up to #2 at home in France so far in March.

* See the Top 10 best-selling models and brands by clicking on the title! *

New car sales are up an encouraging 4% year-on-year over the first 12 days of March, bringing the year-to-date total back into positive (just) at +0.2%. Brand-wise, Peugeot (+1%) and Citroen (+10%) are above Renault (-24%) as is the tradition give Renault’s back-loaded monthly sales trend, notice the exceptional performances of Dacia (+63%), Opel (+47%) and Nissan (+27%). Peugeot places two models atop the sales charts for the first time in years: the 208 leads the way with 2,616 sales (-16%) and is followed by the new 308 at 1,655 units, up 60% on the previous generation one year ago and if maintained until the end of the month this generation’s highest ranking at home so far.

The Nissan Qashqai is back inside the French Top 10.

Volkswagen shines anew with the Polo at #4 (+38%), edging out the Renault Clio in person, and the Golf at #6 (+10%). The Citroen C4 Picasso is quick off the starting blocks this month: up 66% year-on-year, the Peugeot 2008 is already in 8th position, the Dacia Duster is up a mammoth 160% year-on-year to #9 and the Nissan Qashqai is back inside the Top 10 exactly one year after breaking into it for the first time over a full month: up 30% to #10 with 1,241 sales now that the new generation of the model is kicking in.

Previous post: France February 2014: Now with Top 300 All-models ranking!

One year ago: France 1-18 March 2014: VW Golf and Opel Corsa shine

Full 1-12 March 2014 Top 10 models and brands Ranking Tables below.