France September 2014: Renault Twingo III up to 8th place

Renault Twingo III

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 300 best-selling models & Top 47 brands! Click on title to see *

On paper the French new car market looks like it’s sparkling into action at +6% in September to 151.101 registrations, however this is mainly due to one additional working day compared to September 2013 and the seasonally adjusted increase is a much more modest 1.5%. Year-to-date, French new car sales are up a shy 2% to 1.337.327 units. The models podium is identical to the year-to-date ranking with all models registering market shares higher than their annual ones: the Renault Clio IV is at 6% ahead of the Peugeot 208 at 4.9% and the Renault Captur at 4%. The Peugeot 308 II is in great shape in 4th place with 5,979 sales and 4% share, while the Renault Twingo III makes its first appearance both in the French Top 10 at a very promising 8th position with 5,812 units and 3.8% share.

Peugeot 308 II

While in a traditionally very volatile August there were 3 foreigners inside the Top 9, this month we only have 2 in the Top 16! French carmakers hold 57% of their home market, 2.5 percentage points ahead of their level at the same time last year. The VW Golf is the only one in the Top 10, down 4 spots to a still very solid 9th place at 2.5% share, #2 in its category above the Renault Mégane and Citroen C4! The Peugeot 508 compensates for a horrendous month of August (#35) and starts to see the effects of its facelift by surging to #15 and 1.4% share, its best ranking at home since July 2012. The Fiat 500 is up 4 ranks on August to an excellent #17, the Citroen C4 Cactus is stuck outside the Top 20 at #23 with 1,811 sales and the Renault Zoé is up to a best-ever #37 with 914 sales, beating its previous record of #40 reached in March 2013.

BMW 2 Series Active Tourer. BMW sales are up 16% year-on-year in France.

Brand-wise, Renault stays at very high levels at 22% market share (+1%) vs. 20% year-to-date thanks to 33,179 sales, Peugeot is up a massive 26% on a very low Sept ’13 score at 26,970 units and 17.8% share vs. 17% year-to-date and Citroen is up 7% to 12.8%. Volkswagen is one percentage point below its 2014 share at 6.6% (-4%) with Dacia up 34% year-on-year but low at 4.5% share vs. 5.9% in 2014, Nissan is also very impressive at +27% and overtaking Ford in 6th place overall. Mercedes is up 8% to #8, BMW up 16% to #11 and Mini up 16% to #15. In terms of sales channels, concerns about the health of the French market are confirmed by the weakness of private demand, with seasonally adjusted private sales declining year-on-year in September to reach a historically low ratio of 50.7% of total sales. All ‘artificial’ channels are up which is another very unhealthy position to be in: short-term rentals are up 21% and dealership sales are up 8%.

The Renault Trafic is the third best-selling LCV in France this month.

The Light Commercial Vehicle market is up 14% year-on-year in September in France to 33,279 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 271,210 units, up 2% on 2013. Renault sells double the volume of any other manufacturer in the market with a huge 37.9% market share this month vs. 30.9% year-to-date. Citroen follows at 17.6% ahead of Peugeot (14.2%), Fiat (6.5%), Ford (5.1%) and Mercedes (4.4%). In the models ranking, Renault logically monopolises the podium with the Kangoo at 10% share, the Clio IV at 9.5% and the Trafic at an excellent 8.6% vs. 5.3% so far in 2014 thanks to the new generation of the model now spreading into dealerships across the country.

Discover now also the LCV rankings below the jump.

Previous month: France August 2014: Toyota Yaris hits highest ever nippon ranking at #7

Previous month (LCV): France LCV August 2014: Peugeot above Citroen to 2nd place

One year ago: France September 2013: Renault Captur on podium, Peugeot 2008 back in Top 10

Full September 2014 Top 300 models and Top 47 brands Ranking Tables below.