Spain June 2018: VW surges 35% in highest month in over 10 years

VW Polo sales are up 16% year-on-year in June in Spain.

* See the Top 50 All-brands and Top 292 All-models by clicking on the title *

The Spanish new car market is up a solid 7.9% year-on-year in June to 142.728 registrations, the highest volume for the month since 2007 (166.298), but also the highest monthly volume outright in over 10 years – since December 2007 (144.455). This brings the year-to-date tally up 9.9% to 737.670, also the highest half-year result since 2007 (852.197). In contrast with the situation in the past months, private sales are pulling the market down in June with a meagre 1.3% year-on-year uplift to 62.302 units leading to a much-decreased share going from 46.5% in June 2017 to just 43.7% now. Rental sales surge 13.8% to 34.291 and 27.3% share vs. 25.9% a year ago and company sales soar 13.5% to 36.473 and 29% share vs. 27.6%.

Year-to-date, private sales match the market at +9% to 315.098 and 46.6% share vs. 47% over the same period a year ago, while rental sales are weaker at +6% to 175.743 and 25.2% vs. 26.2% in 2017. Company sales are by far the best performing at +15% to 180.160 and 28.2% share vs. 26.8% a year ago. Petrol sales shoot up 32.6% to 91.152 and 63.9% share vs. 52% in May 2017 whereas diesel sales freefall 19.4% to 50.678 and 35.5% share vs. 47.5% a year ago. Year-to-date, petrol is up 37.8% to 460.312 (62.4% share vs. 49.8% a year ago) with diesel down 18.4% to 273.014 (37% vs. 49.9% in 2017).

The Seat Tarraco has landed in Spain.

In the brands ranking, Volkswagen surges 35% year-on-year to snap the pole position for the third time this year after January and March with 9.4% share vs. 8.1% so far in 2018. YTD leader Seat (+15%) also posts a strong performance in 2nd place in May whereas Renault (-10%) is in difficulty at #3. Audi (+23%), Citroen (+23%), Kia (+17%), Toyota (+14%) and Peugeot (+11%) all brilliantly lodge double-digit gains in the remainder of the Top 10 just as Opel (-7%) is the only carmaker in negative alongside Renault. Further down, Subaru (+98%), Jeep (+95%), Abarth (+43%), Mitsubishi (+40%), Smart (+38%), Lexus (+32%), DS (+28%), Skoda (+27%), Jaguar (+24%), Dacia (+20%), Maserati (+20%) and Mercedes (+14%) all impress. At the other end of the scale, Tesla (-23%), Ford (-22%), Land Rover (-20%), Infiniti (-20%) and Volvo (-14%) all struggle.

Strikingly, 9 of the 12 best-selling models in Spain manage a double-digit year-on-year gain in May, led by the Seat Leon (+14%), VW Polo (+16%), VW Golf (+32%) and Dacia Sandero (+37%). The VW Tiguan (+87%) is the most impressive at #12 vs. #17 YTD, with the Fiat 500 (+64%) once again posting a brilliant result. The Peugeot 2008 (+33%), Peugeot 308 (+28%) and Citroen C3 (+24%) also stun, whereas the Seat Ibiza (-17%), Nissan Qashqai (-5%) and Renault Clio (+2%) underperform. The Seat Arona remains the most popular recent launch at but drops 11 spots on May to #23, ahead of the Citroen C3 Aircross at #29 (+17), VW T-Roc at #44 (-9), Kia Stonic at #46 (-5), Opel Grandland X at #59 and Hyundai Kona at #60 (-11). Finally, the Seat Tarraco, the brand’s new 7-seat SUV whose name was decided by a public online vote,  makes its very first appearance in the sales charts of any country with its first unit sold this month at home.

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

One year ago: Spain June 2017: Seat Ibiza reclaims lead in biggest June in a decade

Full June 2018 Top 50 All-brands and Top 292 All-models below.