France September 2015: Peugeot 208 #1, Renault Kadjar leads segment

The Renault Kadjar leads its segment at home for the first time.

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 50 All-brands and Top 330 All-models – see title *

Good news coming from the French market: sales are up 9% year-on-year in September to 164.774 units, the best September score since 2011 and well above the scores of the past 3 years. This is historically a very solid month of September with only the years boosted by scrappage schemes doing significantly better. An encouraging “back to school” result in France, lifting the year-to-date total up 6% to 1.421.440 deliveries. Reassuringly, all channels display virtually the same growth with private sales up 8.9% – still at a historical low of 50% of the overall market – sales to companies up 9.3% and tactical sales up 9%, boosted by short-term rentals up 33%. The three main domestic manufacturers Renault (+4%), Peugeot (+6%) and Citroen (+2%) all gain less ground than their home market but locate themselves at various levels vs. their year-to-date share: Renault is above (20.8% vs. 19.7%), Peugeot is level (17.3%) and Citroen is below (10.2% vs. 10.7%).

The Fabia lifts Skoda up 28% in France in September.

The Volkswagen brands are not handicapped by the diesel scandal for now: Volkswagen is up 12%, Skoda up 28% thanks to the Octavia and Fabia and Seat up 22% thanks to the Leon and Ibiza, while Audi is up 6% but relegated to #3 luxury brand at #13 overall below BMW up 20% to #9 and Mercedes up 2% to #10. Dacia gains 11% but remains below its YTD level but Nissan is up 20% year-on-year and two spots on August to #6, Ford is up 18% and Toyota up 19%. Notice also Fiat (+23%), Suzuki (+26%), Mazda, Honda (+45%), Porsche (+105%), Jeep (+148%) and Smart (+170%) and all posting spectacular gains. Among smaller manufacturers, Infiniti (+171%), Jaguar (+290%) and Tesla (+326%) impress.

The Peugeot 208 is the best-selling vehicle in France in September.

In the models ranking, the Peugeot 208 gains a splendid 23% thanks to its mid-life refresh and overtakes the Renault Clio for the second time in the past three months at 5.5% share vs. 5.3%. The Renault Captur (+13%) is back above the Peugeot 308 (+7%) at #3 but remains 4th year-to-date while the Peugeot 2008 (+6%) is back inside the Top 5 like in the year-to-date ranking, the Renault Scenic back up 9 spots on August to #7, the Renault Twingo up to #8 and the VW Polo (+25%) is the only foreigner in the Top 10 at #9 followed by the Golf (-29%) at #15.

Renault Espace

The Renault Kadjar is up four spots to lead its category at #14 with 2.766 sales vs. 2.609 (+20%) for the Dacia Duster at #16 and 2.355 (+25%) for the Nissan Qashqai at #17 – that’s considering the fact that the Peugeot 3008 isn’t a true SUV. Notice also the Toyota Yaris up 25%, the Nissan Juke up 23%, Mini hatch up 48%, the Toyota Auris up 57% thanks to its facelift, the VW Tiguan in runout mode up 32%, VW Passat up 154%, Skoda Fabia up 56% and Nissan X-Trail up 61%. Among recent newcomers, the Renault Espace is up 18 ranks on August to a fantastic #31 spot, while the Fiat 500X is up 7 to #34 and the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer holds itself within the Top 50 at #49.

The new models pushes Skoda Superb sales up 3-fold year-on-year.

Further down, the Hyundai Tucson breaks into the Top 70, the Skoda Superb is up 3-fold year-on-year to thanks to the new model, the Opel Karl, Mercedes GLC, GLE and Mazda CX-3 are all getting closer to a Top 100 ranking, the Honda HR-V and Jaguar XE are now around the Top 150 and the Ssangyong Tivoli breaks into the Top 100. Finally, we welcome into the French charts the all-new Renault Talisman at #233.

Previous post: Photo Report: The cars of the South of France

Previous month: France August 2015: Renault and Clio reclaim control

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

Full September 2015 Top 50 All-brands and Top 330 All-models below.