France July 2015: Renault down to historically low 14.7% share

August 6, 2015
Matt Gasnier

Freshly facelifted, the Peugeot 208 is the best-selling model in France this month.

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After gaining 15% in June, the French new car market returns to a much more modest growth in July at just +2% on what was the weakest July in 20 years in 2014 to 147.132 registrations, lifting the year-to-date total to 1.164.625 units, up 5.6% on 2014. For only the third time in the past 18 months after May and July 2014, Peugeot is the most popular brand at home thanks to sales outpacing the market at +8% to 26.767 units and 18.2%. Meanwhile Renault drops 11% to 21.588 deliveries and just 14.7% share, exactly nine percentage points below its June level of 23.7% and a historical low for Renault, pulling its year-to-date below 20% at 230.192 units vs. 17.4% and 202.696 for Peugeot. No real reason to worry for Renault however as this weak performance appears to be mostly the result of a particularly aggressive sales front-loading in June in advance of the summer holidays, including demo sales of the Kadjar.

The Peugeot 308 stops just 143 units short of a first monthly win at home.

Below, Citroen is stable at 17.789 deliveries and 12.1% in third place, Volkswagen is up 3% to 8.2% and Dacia is stable at 5.6%. Toyota (+11%), Fiat (+26%), Mercedes (+17%), Kia (+10%) and Hyundai (+44%) are the best performers in the Top 20. Audi is up 4 spots on June to become the #3 foreign brand below just Volkswagen and Toyota. Jeep (+409%) is still lodging euphoric data thanks to the Renegade – albeit plateauing at #60. Smart is up 94% (Forfour), Porsche is up 43% (Macan), Jaguar up 5-fold (XE), Infiniti up 131% and Tesla up 165%.

Second consecutive month inside the Top 20 for the Renault Kadjar.

In line with its dominant market share, Peugeot places three nameplates in the Top 4. After dropping to third place during the last two months – successively outsold by the Peugeot 308 (May) and Renault Captur (June), the Peugeot 208 edges past the Renault Clio by just 29 units to take the lead at home for only the second time in the past two years after January 2014 with 6.585 sales (+3%) vs. 6.556 (-11%). The Peugeot 308 (+22%) is up to #3 with 6.442 deliveries – neither generation of 308 had ever been that close to the French pole position before: just 143 sales. It overtakes the Captur for #3 YTD, while the 2008 is up one rank on May to #4 and 13% year-on-year to 4.782 sales. The Citroen C4 Picasso is up 3 spots to #6 vs. #11 (-5) for its archenemy the Renault Scénic.

Mercedes CLA sales double year-on-year in France thanks to the new Shooting Brake.

The Dacia Sandero is up 18% to #7, the Toyota Yaris up 28% to #15, the Peugeot 508 up 31% to #18 and the Renault Kadjar stays among the 20 most popular nameplates at home at #19 with 1.913 deliveries, now that ‘real’ sales are starting to kick in – read non-demo sales. The Opel Mokka is up 39% #23, the Renault Twingo plunges 18 spots on June to #25, the Mercedes A-Class is back up 13 ranks to #34, the Renault Espace is robust at #35 and 1.141 deliveries and the Fiat 500X drops 8 spots to #38, still the brand’s 2nd best-seller below the 500 (#20).

The BMW 2 Series Active Tourer is about to break into the French Top 50.

Notice also the VW Passat up 48% to #39, the Seat Leon up 47% to #42, Toyota RAV4 up 40% to #43, Nissan X-Trail up 85% to #47, Renault Zoé up 134% to #52, BMW 2 Series Active Tourer up to #54 vs. #82 year-to-date, the Mercedes GLA up 42% to #61, Mercedes CLA up 97% to #70 and the Ford Ecosport up 18 spots on June to #75. Further down the ranking, the Toyota Avensis is up 253% to #104 thanks to the new model, the all-new Hyundai Tucson lands just outside the Top 100 at #108, the Suzuki Celerio is up 36 ranks on last month to #113, the Porsche Macan up 43 to #115, Audi Q7 up 246% to #121, Mazda CX-3 up 50 spots to #124 and already becoming the brand’s best-seller in France, the Jaguar XE up 15 to #142 and the Mercedes GLE landing at #176.

The Mercedes GLE makes its first appearance in the French sales charts in July.