France August 2017: Dacia above VW to rank #4 for the second time ever

The Dacia Sandero hops on the French podium for the first time in four years. Picture whatcar.co.uk

* NOW UPDATED with the Top 35 brands, Top 10 models (private sales) and Top 260 models *

The French new car market is up a robust 9.4% in August to 107.455 registrations, bringing the year-to-date tally up 4.2% to 1.390.240 units. If private sales are up 5.7% year-on-year to 52.686 units, they trail the market and fall to 49% share vs. 50.7% in August 2016. The market is pulled further up by company sales (including long term leases) up 17% to 25.6% share vs. 23.9% a year ago and demo sales up 27% to 17.139 units and 16% share. Note French manufacturers are responsible for the company sales surge with Peugeot up 30%, Citroen up 29.5% and Renault up 25%. In the overall market, Renault manages to reclaims the #1 brand title in-extremis off Peugeot with sals up 8.7% to 18.092 vs. 18.011 (+10.8%) for Peugeot. Both manufacturers hold 16.8% of their home market, below their respective YTD levels of 19.6% and 17.5%. Citroen (+1.9%) trails the market and slumps to a disappointing 9% share vs. 10% YTD.

The C-HR helps Toyota up 16.2% this month, now #6 YTD in-between VW and Ford. 

The hero of the month is without contest Dacia whose never-ending success story continues in France: thanks to deliveries up a whopping 21.8%, it outsells Volkswagen for the second time ever to snap the 4th place overall in the brands ranking with 7.3% market share. The only other time this happened was in March 2010 when the Sandero shot to a freak 2nd place lifting Dacia up to 16.624 units vs. 14.530 for VW. This performance translates in an even more impressive way into the private sales market where Dacia holds 12.2% thanks to 6.425 registrations, placing it at #3 not far at all from traditional leaders Renault (13.6%) and Peugeot (13.4%) and far above Citroen (8.1%) and Volkswagen (7.5%). Back to the overall market: below Volkswagen knocked down to 5th, Toyota gains 16.2% to bypass Ford for the 6th place YTD. Nissan surges 58% to 7th place but this is due to demo sales (+150%) and short term rentals (+580%) whereas private sales are only up 3%. Mercedes (+3.5%) tops the premium order above Audi (-1.9%) and BMW (-0.1%). Suzuki (+16.9%), Hyundai (+17.8%), Mitsubishi (+20.9%), Alfa Romeo (+21.1%), Fiat (+21.1%), Mazda (+21.9%), Skoda (+32.8%) and Tesla (+154.8%) also shine.

Skoda gains 32.8% in August, the largest improvement among the Top 20 brands.

Model-wise, the Renault Clio soars 31% year-on-year to solidly hold onto the top spot with 5% share vs. 4.1% for the Peugeot 208 (-17%), threatened this month by the Dacia Sandero up 18% to 4% share on the third step of the podium. This is the first time in four years that the Sandero manages to crack the French podium and the fourth time ever (#3 in July and August 2013 and #2 in March 2010). The Sandero obviously dominates the private sales ranking this month, selling 71% more than the #2, the Peugeot 208 (-20%) and Dacia places two models in the Top 5 with the Duster up 22% to 5th place. Back to the overall ranking where the Citroen C3 III remains in 4th place while the Peugeot 3008 II drops three spots on its record July to #6 but remains in 3rd position year-to-date. Both the Peugeot 308 (-3%) and 2008 (-7%) lose ground year-on-year, but not as much as the Renault Captur, down 13% to #10. The VW Polo (+33%) is the only foreigner in the Top 10 at #9, distancing the Toyota Yaris at #12 (+26%) and the Nissan Qashqai at #13 (+71%). Among recent launches, the Renault Scenic IV is down 5 spots to #16, the Peugeot 5008 up 222% to #18 thanks to the new model and the Nissan Micra up 137% thanks to the new generation. Note also the Nissan X-Trail up 130%, the Renault Zoe up 111% and the Ford Ka+ up 19 ranks on last month to break into the French Top 50 for the first time at #43.

Previous month: France July 2017: Peugeot 3008 on the podium for the first time

One year ago:: France August 2016: Dacia, Mercedes, tactical sales lift market up 7%

Full August 2017 Top 35 brands, Top 10 models (private sales) and Top 260 models below.