Netherlands October 2014: Peugeot 308 and Citroen C4 Cactus stronger than in France

The Citroen C4 Cactus is now among Netherlands’ 20 most popular vehicles.

* See the Top 180 best-selling models and Top 40 brands by clicking on the title! *

No luck for Dutch new car sales: down year-on-year again at -2% to 35,424 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 319,534 units, down 5% on 2013. Brand-wise, Volkswagen reclaims the pole position off Peugeot but just, at 4,087 sales and 11.5% vs. 3,966 and 11.2%. Renault is back up two spots to #3 and 8.1%, ahead of Volvo strong again at 7%, Citroen at 5.9% and Skoda at 5.8%. In the models ranking, exceptional performance of the Peugeot 308, topping the sales charts for the 4th time in the past 5 months thanks to 1,620 units sold and 4.6% (vs. 4% in France). Its late awakening this year doesn’t allow it any further up than #5 year-to-date for now. The Skoda Octavia is up 5 ranks on September to rank #2 overall while the Renault Clio is up 3 to round up the podium, now threatening the VW Golf for the FY2014 pole position at 12,366 units and 3.9% vs. 12,996 and 4.1% for the Golf.

The Peugeot 308 is the best-seller in the Netherlands for the 4th time in 5 months.

Before reading further, it’s worth keeping in mind Dutch new car sales are shaped by preferential pricing attributed to the most eco-friendly variants of some models. This pricing impacts not just the car price but also the overall amount of tax the car buyer is paying and can mean a model goes from no sale one month to #1 the next as one variant entered the preferential pricing list. The Volvo V40 remains very impressive at #4 and 4.1% share vs. #12 and 2% year-to-date and the Kolin triplets now fit within the Dutch Top 11 thanks to their respective new generations: the Peugeot 108 shines at #7 and 3% share, the Citroen C1 is up 11 spots on September to #10 and the Toyota Aygo is stable at #11. All-in-all, these 3 models add up to 2,495 sales and 7% share which earns them a combined pole position by far. Finally, let’s salute the Citroen C4 Cactus up 25 ranks to break into the Dutch Top 20 at #19 (vs. #22 in France), the VW Golf Sportsvan up 9 to #29 and the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer up 75 spots to #39.

Previous month: Netherlands September 2014: Peugeot 308, Opel Corsa and Volvo V40 dominate

One year ago: Netherlands October 2013: Volvo V40 and V60 on podium

Full October 2014 Top 180 models and Top 40 brands Ranking Tables below.