Spain May 2018: Fiat 500, Opel Mokka, Seat Arona hit records, biggest market in 11 years

The Seat Arona misses out on a first Top 10 ranking at home for just 25 sales.

* See the Top 45 All-brands and Top 290 All-models by clicking on the title *

New car sales in Spain gain 7.1% year-on-year in May to 135.990 registrations, the largest score for the month since 2007 (153.400), while the year-to-date volume is now up 10.4% to 594.931 units, also at its highest since 2007 (685.899). Note 2.700 registrations that couldn’t be counted in April due to a technical problem have been included in the May total, which should actually be up by 4.9% instead of 7.1%, however still best since 2007. Once again it’s a very healthy market with private sales up 12.2% to 55.765 and 46% vs. 43.9% a year ago, and company sales up 13.1% to 35.043 and 25.8% vs. 24.4% a year ago doing the heavy lifting whereas artificial rental sales drop 4.7% to 38.376 and 28.2% share vs. 31.7% in May 2017. Year-to-date, roughly the same image is replicated with company sales up 15.9% to 166.581 and 28% share vs. 26.7% over the same period in 2017, private sales up 10.9% to 281.159 and 47.3% share vs. 47.1% and rental sales up just 5.1% to 147.191 and 24.7% vs. 26.3% a year ago.

The Fiat 500 posts its second podium ranking in three months – and ever.

Homegrown carmaker Seat surges 37% to retain its home pole position at 8.4% share, while Renault (+13%) is up two spots on April and its YTD ranking to #2 and 8.1% and Volkswagen (+3%) down one rank to #3 at 7.5%. Opel (-4%) outsells Peugeot (+18%) by just one unit to snap the #4 spot. Kia (+16%) and Hyundai (+13%) also post double-digit gains in the Top 10 while below, Ferrari (+175%), Jeep (+77%), Subaru (+64%), Suzuki (+53%), Mazda (+30%), Abarth (+28%), Jaguar (+27%), Lexus (+25%), Mahindra (+22%) and Mitsubishi (+21%) all post spectacular gains whereas Land Rover (-24%), Maserati (-24%), Ssangyong (-22%), Nissan (-18%), Tesla (-15%) and Audi (-13%) struggle. Alpine returns with just one sale of its A110 for the month.

The Opel Mokka breaks its Spanish ranking record at #6.

Model-wise, the Seat Leon (+34%) reclaims the pole position both in May and year-to-date (+5%), bumping out the Seat Ibiza (-13%) down to a paltry 11th place this month. The Fiat 500 once again posts a fantastic month, up 67% year-on-year and 19 spots on April to a new record 2nd place overall, meaning it has snapped two podium ranking in three months (#3 in March) whereas it had never cracked the Top 5 before February 2018. As we did in March, we still suspect this sudden gain of form by the 500 in Spain has a lot to do with rental deals, a channel Fiat has traditionally thrived in. The Renault Clio (+14%) is back up three spots to #3, dislodging the Dacia Sandero (+9%) from the podium while the Opel Mokka soars 30% year-on-year and 19 ranks on April to a record #6, smashing its previous best of #10 hit in January and November 2016. The Renault Captur (+29%) also shines at #7 just as the Seat Arona gains 7 spots on last month to break its ranking record at home to #12, missing out on a very first Top 10 by just 25 sales.

Previous month: Spain April 2018: Seat Ibiza up to #1 YTD, market at highest in 10 years

One year ago: Spain May 2017: Seat Leon leads market up 11.1%

Full May 2018 Top 45 All-brands and Top 290 All-models below.