France June 2014: Renault Captur above 208, up to record #2!

The Renault Captur ranks at an all-time high #2 at home this month.

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The French new car market is up an ok 3% year-on-year in June to 196,257 registrations, also bringing the year-to-date total up 3% on 2013 to 958,776 units. Although in positive territory, this still makes June 2014 the third lowest June score in the past 15 years in France with June 2000 (183,697) and June 2013 (190,199). Based on this month’s result, the CCFA lifted its projection for the Full Year 2014 to 1.826 million units, up 2% on 2013 but still the third lowest annual total in the past 20 years with 2013 (1,790,473) and 1997 (1,713,030). Confirming that all is not rosy in the country of love, private sales are up only 0.9% year-on-year in June to a 48.4% market share, the lowest so far this year according to Autoactu. Reversely, tactical sales are stronger, confirming a trend observed in 2013: short-term rentals are up 5% and demo vehicles up an impressive 11%…

The Citroen C4 Cactus is up to #33, its first ever Top 50 ranking in the world.

Even more interesting (concerning?), the entire French market’s growth in June can solely be attributed to gains by the Renault Group adding up to 11,875 units vs. 6,086 for the overall market… This is partly due to the exceptional performance of the Group’s models, but also to an allocation strategy that penalised its sales in May and therefore reported many of them into June. The Renault brand hits its highest monthly market share in 15 years at 24.8% thanks to 48,655 sales (+20%) while Dacia is up 47% to 11,381 units and 5.8% share, very close to Volkswagen (6.6%). Among the top selling brands, only Peugeot (+3%), Mercedes (+22%), BMW (+35%) and Skoda (+17%) also gain ground year-on-year…

The Renault Scénic is up to 4th place.

Model-wise, massive event this month in France: surfing on the brand’s historical health the Renault Captur is up 7 spots on May to land at a record 2nd place with 9,566 sales and 4.9% share, also monthly volume and share all-time highs for the nameplate. The Captur is only outsold by the Clio IV (7.1% share) and beats the Peugeot 208 (4.1%) for the first time ever, let alone its archenemy the Peugeot 2008 down to #10 and 2.6%. The Captur is the 6th nameplate in the past decade to manage to break the traditional Renault/Peugeot supermini domination at home (Renault Clio and Peugeot 206-207-208). The other ones are the Peugeot 307 (8 times in 2005 and 2006), Renault Scénic (8 times between 2005 and 2007), Renault Twingo (5 times in 2009 and 2010), Citroen C3 (in March 2011 and December 2013) and the Dacia Sandero in March 2010.

The analysis continues below…

Previous post: France 1-18 June 2014: No foreigners in Top 10

Previous month: France May 2014: Now with Top 300 models and Top 50 brands

Previous month (initial post): France May 2014: Peugeot 308 on podium for the first time in 5 years

One year ago: France June 2013: Renault Captur up to #4, Peugeot 2008 #11

Full Analysis, June 2014 Top 80 models and Top 15 brands Ranking Tables below.