Portugal August 2015: Mercedes best-selling brand

Surprisingly, Mercedes is the most popular carmaker in Portugal in August.

* See the Top 35 All-brands and Top 205 All-models by clicking on the title *

After dipping to ‘just’ +10% in July, Portuguese new car sales are back to their flamboyant self in August at +22% to 9.436 registrations, lifting the year-to-date total to 125.642 units, up 29% on 2014. August is traditionally a slow month for private sales in Portugal due to summer holidays, with fleet sales accounting for an even larger share of overall registrations as usual. Yet, hardly anyone would have predicted Mercedes to top the brand sales charts this month! 975 sales lift the German carmaker to a glorious 10.3% market share, up 48% on August 2014. This is the first time since BSCB follows Portugal monthly that Mercedes ranks #1. BMW, up 30% to #4 this month, ranked #1 here back in January 2014 in a similar turn of events. Among the 3 premium German manufacturers, only Audi is left unfazed at +1% and #8.

BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer

Renault (+21%) remains #2 while Volkswagen (+5%) is down two spots to #3. In ranking order, Ford (+88%), Dacia (+51%), Kia (+54%), Fiat (+58%), Smart (+192%), Mitsubishi (+55%) and Mazda (+49%) all take off. In the models ranking, the VW Golf is back up 4 spots on July despite sales down 5% year-on-year to #1 with 4.5% share above the Renault Clio at 4.3% (+12%). The Mercedes A-Class surges 120% on a year ago to #3 overall with 3.8% of the market above the Ford Focus (+156%), Nissan Qashqai (-4%) and Renault Captur (+30%). The Dacia Sandero (+57%), Peugeot 308 (+95%), Mercedes CLA (+166%), BMW 2 Series (+191%) and Fiat 500 (+186%) also post spectacular gains.

Previous month: Portugal July 2015: Mercedes compact family fights Clio

One year ago: Portugal August 2014: VW Golf takes the lead in market up 26%

Full August 2015 Top 35 All-brands and Top 205 All-models below.