France April 2014: Citroen C3 past Captur, Peugeot 308 up to #6

The Peugeot 308 II reaches a best-ever 6th place at home this month.

* See the Top 80 best-selling models and Top 15 brands by clicking on the title! *

The French new car market is lazily letting himself back into positive territory (how’s that for a French image?) with registrations up 6% in April to 166,968 units which means the year-to-date total is now 4% above 2013 at 613,577 sales. It looks like the Renault Clio IV is on track for a second consecutive win over the Peugeot 208 this year, taking another large advantage this month at 9,848 sales vs. 7,475. Surprise in third position: the valiant Citroen C3 tells everyone the world does not belong to small SUVs just yet, kicking the Renault Captur down to #4 both in April and year-to-date.

The Citroen C3 is back above the Renault Captur in France.

The Peugeot 2008 fares a little better than the 208 in its duel with the equivalent Renault: it is only 119 sales below the Captur this month and 1,800 year-to-date. The new generation Peugeot 308 breaks its ranking record in April: up two spots to a best-ever 6th place thanks to 5,120 sales and 3.1%, also the model’s volume and market share records so far. The compact Peugeot is clearly gearing up a notch at home, and 8 months after its first appearance in the French it is clearly in the lead in its segment above the Renault Mégane (#10) and VW Golf (#13).

The Dacia Duster is at its highest ranking in France in over one year.

Its facelift and the free advertising generated by the photo of it rescuing a Porsche Magan in the desert (which by the way doesn’t seem to have hurt Macan sales thank you) push the Dacia Duster up 5 spots to #7 with an excellent 4,814 sales and 2.9% share, its best ranking since February 2013 (#5). With the Sandero up 4 ranks to #9, we have two Dacias in the French monthly Top 10 for the first time in history! Talk about a smashing success for the French-Romanian low-cost brand.

There are now foreigners in the Top 11 this month with the Renault Scénic beating its archenemy the Citroen C4 Picasso for the 2nd month running at #8 vs. #11 but still below year-to-date. The VW Polo (#12) is the favourite stranger once again while the Nissan Qashqai (#15) and Ford Fiesta (#16) remain solid. Notice also the Renault Twingo down 9 spots to #19 now that the new generation has been unveiled in Geneva, the Ford Focus up 12 to #36 and the Mercedes C-Class up 21 to #46.

Previous post: France 1-9 April 2014: Citroen C3 and Dacia Duster shine

Previous month: France March 2014: Renault Captur and Peugeot 2008 both in Top 4 for 1st time

Previous month (more detail): France March 2014: Now with Top 300 models ranking!

One year ago: France April 2013: 3 units separate Renault Clio IV and Peugeot 208!

Full April 2014 Top 80 models and Top 15 brands Ranking Tables below.