France April 2018: Peugeot #1, Dacia hits all-time record share

Never before had Dacia held such a high market share in France. The Duster is up 45%.

* Now updated with the Top 40 brands, Top 265 models and Top 10 private sales *

The French new car market is up a very robust 9% year-on-year in April to 187.396 registrations, lifting the year-to-date volume up 4.4% to 744.238. If this month’s result was helped by one additional selling day (the daily growth is +3.6%), as it has been the case every single month this year so far private sales pull the market up, this time with a stunning 16% uplift to 91.770 units or almost 13.000 more than in April 2017, with the private sales share rallying back up from 46.1% last year to 49%. Company sales are up 12.8% to 16.871, company leases are up 9.9% to 17.406 while tactical sales for once lose significant share due to a meagre 1.1% year-on-year improvement: short-term rentals are down 0.1% to 29.996, self-registrations are down 2% to 2.415 and demo sales up 3.2% to 21.793.

The 3008 (+34%) helps Peugeot rank #1 at home for the 3rd time in the past 4 months.

Brand-wise, Peugeot impresses once again and snaps the pole position off Renault thanks to deliveries up a market-beating 12% to 18.5% share, marking a third monthly win in the past four months, a record this decade at home according to BSCB data. Renault edges up just 4% to 18% but keeps the YTD lead at 18.9% (+0.9%) vs. 18.5% (+10.4%) for Peugeot. Citroen (-4.9%) is the only Top 10 carmaker with Audi (-7.1%) to post a negative result for April, resulting in a weak 9.1% share vs. 9.7% (-0.6%) so far this year. The best performing Top 10 manufacturer is used to that title: Dacia surges 31.3% to hit 7.5% share, and according to BSCB records this is a new all-time high for the brand, its previous best being 7.3% in August 2017. This record level enables Dacia to return to #4 overall above Volkswagen (+10.5%) for only the fourth time in history after March 2010, August 2017 and January 2018. Dacia is also back above VW YTD at 6.5% (+17.4%) vs. 6.3% (+3.3%).

The C-HR (+43%) helps lift Toyota up 25.5%.

Below, Toyota soars 25.5% to return to the 6th spot it holds YTD, ahead of Ford (+8.1%) while Fiat does even better at +28.9% but drops one spot on February to #8. As mentioned above, Audi sinks 7.1% to 2.6% but is back to the #1 premium place above Mercedes (+1.7%) and BMW (+4.8%) all underperforming. If Nissan (-20.6%) registers the heaviest fall in the Top 20, DS (+68.4%), Hyundai (+43.2%), Suzuki (+25.5%), Kia (+23.1%) and Skoda (+22.4%) all lodge spectacular gains. Among smaller carmakers, Lexus is up 59.9%, Jeep up 36% but Infiniti implodes at -66.2%. Alpine delivers its first three-digit sales figure since its renaissance at 114 units, pushing its YTD total to 145.

The Dacia Sandero (+25%) hits its highest ranking since last August.

The Renault Clio is up a splendid 15% to remain the most popular nameplate at home, distancing the Peugeot 208 (+5%) and 3008 (+34%). Note that the Peugeot 3008 and 5008 combined add up to a staggering 10.633 sales, outselling both the Clio (9.869) and 208 (9.002) to become the #1 vehicle in France for the fourth time in the past six months. The Dacia Sandero justifies the brand’s record performance with a 25% gain to #4, its highest national position since last August (#3), frankly outselling the Peugeot 2008 (-5%), Citroen C3 (-5%), Peugeot 308 (-8%) and Renault Captur (+3%). At #9, the Dacia Duster posts the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 10 at +45%, making it two Dacias in the French Top 10 for the 5th consecutive month.

First French Top 50 for the Opel Grandland X. Picture largus.fr

Below the Renault Twingo (+19%), Megane (-5%) and Scenic (-2%), the VW Polo (+7%) remains the best-selling foreigner in France but is stuck at #13 above the Citroen C3 Aircross (+1) and the Toyota Yaris (+39%). The Peugeot 5008 is up 4-fold on the previous gen a year ago and back up 9 spots on March to #17, with the Fiat 500 (+47%) and VW Golf (+18%) the only two other foreign nameplates in the April Top 20. Further down, notice the Ford Fiesta up 41% to #22, the Toyota C-HR up 43% to #25, the VW T-Roc lifting its ranking record to #28 (+5), the Nissan Micra up 83% to #31, Toyota Aygo up 36% to #33, Fiat Panda up 137% to #37, Toyota Auris up 54% to #39, Kia Picanto up 85% to #45, Mercedes GLC up 45% to #48 and Ford Ecosport up 52% to #51. Two recent launches break into the Top 50 for the first time: the Opel Grandland X at #41 (+19), outselling its little brother the Crossland X (#47) also for the first time, and the DS 7 at #50 (+47).

Previous month: France March 2018: Private sales, Dacia, VW pull market up 2.2%

One year ago: France April 2017: Peugeot 2008 and 3008 lead their segments

Full April 2018 Top 40 brands, Top 265 models and Top 10 private sales.