Netherlands April 2015: Renault Clio confirms leadership

The Renault Clio confirms it’s the Dutch’s favourite choice this year.

* See the Top 38 best-selling brands and Top 255 All-models by clicking on the title *

The Dutch new car market continues to fail getting frankly ahead of last year: down 4% in April to 27,148 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 136,894 deliveries, up a very timid 1% on 2014. The top two manufacturers in the country buck the lukewarm trend and post spectacular gains: Volkswagen is up 20% to 3.312 sales and 12.2% while Peugeot is up an even more impressive 32% to 2.394 units. Reversely, Renault is down 19% to #3 but both Ford and Opel post very encouraging 11% year-on-year improvements. It’s always important to keep in mind that new car sales in the Netherlands have been heavily skewed by preferential pricing attributed to the most eco-friendly variants of some models, and this for the past 3 years. This pricing impacts not just the car but also the overall amount of tax the car buyer is paying while he owns the car, and can mean a model goes from no sale one month to #1 the next as one variant entered the preferential pricing list.

The Peugeot 308 and VW Golf both rank on the Dutch podium this month.

In this context, the Renault Clio manages to confirm its newfound leadership of the market thanks to 1,139 sales in April, adding up to 5,244 so far this year vs. 4,987 for the VW Golf. The Peugeot 308 makes it two Frenchies on the Dutch podium this month at #3 with 3.3% share vs. 1.9% year-to-date (#12), the Audi A3 remains at #8 vs. #15 YTD and the Nissan Qashqai stays in the Top 10 at #9. Notice also the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer cracking the Dutch monthly Top 30 for the first time at #29, the Suzuki Vitara up 28 spots on March to #54 and the Jaguar XE making its very first appearance in the sales charts at #253 with one unit sold this month.

Previous month: Netherlands March 2015: Renault Clio takes charge, Citroen C4 Cactus #11

One year ago: Netherlands April 2014: Mitsubishi Outlander leads, Peugeot 2008 in Top 10

Full April 2015 Top 38 brands and Top 255 All-models below.