Spain October 2018: Peugeot, Dacia Sandero, Seat Arona shine in market down 5%

The Dacia Sandero is the best-selling model in Spain in October.

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

The aftermath of the pre-WLTP sales pull-forward continues to impact the new car market in Spain, down for the 2nd straight month in October at -5% to 90.364 units, however the year-to-date tally remains in frank positive territory at +10.2% to 1.139.030 sales after 10 months, the highest volume at this stage of the year since 2007 (1.345.519). Logically, private sales – the least affected by the pre-WLTP rush – resist best this month at -1% to 54.927 and 60.8% share vs 58.3% a year ago, with company sales down 8.2% to 30.427 and 33.7% vs. 34.8% and rental sales the hardest hit at -23.1% to 5.010 and 5.5% vs. 6.9%. Year-to-date, it’s the turn of company sales to perform best at +17.4% to 352.539 and 31% share vs. 29.1% over the same period in 2017, with private sales up 7.3% to 527.136 and 49.7% vs. 51% and rental sales up 7.2% to 220.802 and 19.4% vs. 19.9%.

The Peugeot 2008 soars 50% to 4th place in October.

Peugeot (+26%) enjoys a 2nd consecutive month as the favourite brand in Spain thanks to a very sturdy uptick, whereas Seat (-18%) and Volkswagen (-13%) struggle on the podium. The rest of the Top 10 is by and large healthier than the market with Citroen (+19%), Hyundai (+15%), Ford (+11%), Mercedes (+9%) and Toyota (+5%) all in positive but Renault (-47%) and Opel (-13%) suffer. Further down, Volvo (+82%), Jeep (+63%), DS (+53%), Dacia (+36%), BMW (+35%), Mitsubishi (+25%) and Lexus (+19%) all excel while on the other end of the ladder, Porsche (-67%), Audi (-56%), Ssangyong (-53%), Land Rover (-50%), Mahindra (-40%) and Fiat (-30%) dive. Model-wise, the Dacia Sandero soars 44% year-on-year to snap its 9th monthly win in Spain, the first in 2018. Previous wins were in January, August, December 2013, August, September 2014, November 2015, August and December 2017.

The Seat Arona is up to a record 6th place at home.

The VW Polo (+172%) surfs on the new generation to return to #2, last held last June. The Seat Leon (-46%) is in a worrying situation but manages to remain on the podium and holds onto the YTD pole position. Like in September, Peugeot places two nameplates in the Top 5 with both the 2008 (+50%) and 3008 (+45%) posting superb gains. The Seat Arona (+679%) looks like it has finally found its mojo at home, up a further two spots on September to reach a new record 6th place, the highest ranking for the nameplate anywhere in the world. The Toyota C-HR (+98%) is also in great shape even though it is down 5 spots on its record-breaking 6th place last month, with other great performers in the Top 50 including the Hyundai Kona (+299%), Kia Stonic (+105%), BMW 1-Series (+75%), Citroen C3 Aircross (+69%), BMW X1 (+52%), Mercedes A-Class (+43%), Citroen C4 Cactus (+42%), Ford Fiesta (+31%) and Dacia Duster (+22%).

Previous month: Spain September 2018: Peugeot 3008 signs first major win in the world

One year ago: Spain October 2017: Renault and Seat Leon snap YTD leads

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