Spain January 2019: Citroen and Dacia strong, Sandero leads in market down 5.1%

The Dacia Sandero signs its 10th monthly win in Spain.

The Spanish new car market starts the year on the wrong foot with a -5.1% year-on-year decline in January to 96.890 registrations, yet this is still the 2nd largest January volume in the past decade below last year’s 102.149 units. Company sales (-3.2%) fare the best this month at 32.666 units and 32.7% share vs. 31.2% over the FY2018 while private sales (-5.9%) at 50.103 and 51.7% vs. 51% in FY2018 and sales to rental companies (-6.6%) at 15.150 and 15.6% vs. 17.8% in FY2018 fall faster and lose share vs. January 2018. Compact MPVs (+18.2%), small SUVs (+13.4%) and subcompact cars (+3.7%) are the three main segments gaining ground this month in Spain.

Both Seat (+6.4%) and Peugeot (+14.1%) post stunning scores atop the brands ranking this month whereas Volkswagen (-19.1%) is in great difficulty in third place. But it’s Citroen (+34.7%) that produces the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 15, with Dacia (+27.1%) close behind. Reversely, Audi (-29.2%), Fiat (-25.3%), BMW (-18.3%), Nissan (-18.1%), Kia (-16%), Opel (-13.7%), Skoda (-12.8%), Mercedes (-11.7%) and Renault (-11.3%) all struggle with double-digit gains. Among smaller brands, Lamborghini (+150%), Tesla (+133.3%), Jeep (+82.3%), Bentley (+50%), Ferrari (+50%), Volvo (+43.6%), Infiniti (+28.7%), Mitsubishi (+17.4%), DS (+16.9%), Alfa Romeo (+16.1%) and Honda (+11.4%) make themselves noticed.

Model-wise, the Dacia Sandero (+28.6%) shoots up to pole position in January, brilliantly signing its 10th overall monthly win in Spain and second in the past 4 months. Previous wins were in January, August, December 2013, August, September 2014, November 2015, August, December 2017 and October 2018. The Sandero eclipses the Top 2 models for 2018, the Seat Leon (-6.1%) and Ibiza (+21.6%) with the VW Golf (-28.2%) and Nissan Qashqai (+2.6%) rounding up the Top 5. The Peugeot 3008 (+35.4%) ranks 6th like in December, the Seat Arona (+30.1%) is up 16 spots on December to #7, its 4th Top 10 finish at home in the past 5 months and the Toyota C-HR (+37.4%) also gains 16 ranks on last month to #9, securing its 2nd ever monthly Top 10 after last September (#6). Further down, the Citroen Berlingo (#16 vs. #100 in FY2018), Jeep Renegade (+126.8%), Citroen C3 Aircross (+80.7%), VW T-Roc (+71%), Citroen C4 Cactus (+63.5%), Opel Crossland X (+49.2%), Hyundai Kona (+46.1%), Renault Scenic (+44.7%), Ford Focus (+40%), Dacia Duster (+24.2%), Toyota Yaris (+16.2%) and Mercedes A-Class (+15.7%) shine. The Peugeot Rifter (#28) tops recent launches (<12 months) above the Citroen C5 Aircross (#80), Seat Tarraco (#146) and Audi Q8 (#148). We welcome the DR 6 (#261) and DR 3 (#282) in the Spanish charts this month.

Previous post: Spain Full Year 2018: Seat reclaims brand lead for first time since 2011, Leon still #1

One year ago: Spain January 2018: Volkswagen and Golf top market up 20.2%

Full January 2019 Top 45 All-brands and Top 290 All-models below.