France April 2017: Peugeot 2008 and 3008 lead their segments

The Peugeot 3008 frankly outsells the Renault Kadjar. Picture largus.fr 

* See the Top 45 best-selling brands and Top 275 models and Top 10 private sales by clicking on the title *

The French new car market is down 6% year-on-year in April to 171.879 registrations, due to two less opening days than a year ago. Adjusted to the same number of opening days, the market is up 3.9%. Year-to-date, sales are up 2% to 712.933 with exactly the same number of opening days as in 2016. Looking at sales by channel, once again private sales fare worse than the market at -10.6% to 79.476 and a low 46.2% market share vs. 48.6% a year ago. Business sales on the other hand be at the market at -2.9% to 34. 532 and 20% share vs. 19.4% a year ago. Finally, demo sales shoot up 15.9% this month to 13.4% share and are up 18.7% so far this year, confirming the source of the year-to-date market growth is mainly artificial.

Brand-wise, market leader Renault trails the market at -9% to 18.9% share vs. 19.5% so far this year whereas Peugeot beats it at -2% to 18% vs. 17.5% in 2017. Citroen follows the overall trend at -5%, remaining above 10% share thanks to the new C3, Volkswagen tumbles down 15% just as the Polo (-14%) and Golf (-45%) await their facelift, and Dacia is down 5% but remains above its year-to-date level at 6.3% share vs. 5.7%. In the private sales channel, the rankings are overturned with Peugeot frankly distancing Renault at 13.106 sales vs. 11.876 and Dacia above Citroen at 9.072 vs. 8.097.

The new C3 keeps Citroen above 10% share. Picture largus.fr

Below, Toyota is up 2% thanks to the C-HR (#34), Nissan is stable thanks to the Qashqai (+15%) and the new Micra (#78), Fiat is up 4% thanks to the Tipo (#36), Kia is up 12% thanks notably to the Sportage (+21%), the new Rio (+43%) and the Niro, Seat gains 23% thanks to the Ateca (#71), Skoda is up 10% thanks to the Kodiaq (#127) and Suzuki up 16% thanks to the Baleno and Ignis. All three top-selling premium brands are down: Audi (-8%) ahead of Mercedes (-5%) and BMW (-14%). Among smaller brands, Alfa Romeo (+55%), Maserati (+57%) and Tesla (+63%) shine.

In the models ranking, the Renault Clio (-8%) remains in the lead for just 35 units above the Peugeot 208 (-10%), and we witness some more interesting duels below. The Peugeot 2008 (+9%) has taken a clear advantage over the Renault Captur (-23%), the Peugeot 308 (-15%) stays way above the Renault Megane IV (+16%), the Peugeot 3008 II (#6) outsells the Renault Kadjar (#16) and the Citroen C4 Picasso (#10) is above the new Renault Scenic IV (#11). Notice also the VW Tiguan (#15) up 160% to become the 2nd best-selling foreign model below the VW Polo and the Audi Q2 breaking into the Top 50 for the first time at #49.

Looking at the models ranking in the private sales channel, the Dacia Sandero remains by far in pole position despite sales down 2% year-on-year. It distances the Peugeot 2008 (+5%) once again outselling the Peugeot 208 and Renault Clio, both down 15% this month. The Citroen C3 (+2%) and Peugeot 3008 (+88%) follow, while the Renault Captur loses almost half its sales year-on-year at -47%.

Previous month: France March 2017: Peugeot 2008 settles at #3 in market up 7%

One year ago: France April 2016: Dacia Sandero overall best-seller with private buyers

Full April 2017 Top 45 brands, Top 275 models and Top 10 private sales below.