Portugal March 2019: Citroen (+8.2%) only gainer in Top 12, Fiat 500 (+49.5%) lands on podium in market down -10.8%

The Fiat 500 steps up to #3 overall in Portugal in March.

The Portuguese new car market dives -10.8% year-on-year in March to 24.900 registrations, pulling the year-to-date volume down -6% to 59.445. Renault (-6.1%) repeats at #1 in the brands ranking, now also taking control YTD (-14.4%) despite a steep loss. Peugeot (-4.1%) follows ahead of Fiat (-3.3%) up 4 spots on February to #3, Mercedes (-12.1%) and Opel (-12.9%) completing a Top 5 entirely in negative. Citroen (+8.2%) bucks the trend at #6, the only gainer in the Top 12. Below, Ford (-2.3%) resists but Nissan (-56%), Volkswagen (-35.1%), Seat (-24.1%) and Toyota (-22.4%) all get annihilated. Porsche (+185.7%), Lexus (+32.3%), Suzuki (+21.2%), Dacia (+19.2%), Mitsubishi (+15%), Volvo (+13.5%), Alfa Romeo (+12%) and Hyundai (+10.8%) are the largest gainers in market this month just as Tesla, which didn’t report sales until last January, shoots up 7 spots on last month to #18 with 1.4% share thanks to the arrival of the Model 3.

Model-wise, the Renault Clio (-10.7%) remains easily in the lead at 6.4% share ahead of the Renault Captur (+4.5%) while the Fiat 500 (+49.5%) soars 14 spots on February to land on the third step of the podium, most probably propped by rental fleets in preparation for the summer holiday. Below the Peugeot 208 (-16.2%), the Mercedes A-Class (+29.1%) continues to impress in its new generation and rounds up the March Top 5 but remains at a fantastic 2nd place YTD. The Fiat Tipo (+39.4%), Peugeot 308 (+31.9%) and Citroen C3 (+25.4%) also post splendid gains in the remainder of the Top 10. Below, the Hyundai Kauai (+497.4%), Nissan Leaf (+187%), Dacia Duster (+173.1%) and Ford Fiesta (+58.7%) post some of the largest gains just as the Tesla Model 3 surges 37 spots on February to end just one unit below a historical Top 20 and the Toyota Corolla is up 159 ranks to #33 now that the hatch variant has landed.

Previous post: Portugal January-February 2019: Mercedes A-Class and Nissan Leaf post outstanding starts

One year ago: Portugal March 2018: Nissan surges 61% to #3 in market up 7.4%

Full March 2019 Top 40 All-brands and Top 255 All-models below.