Spain August 2019: Sandero 3peats at #1, lifts Dacia to record #6 in market logically down (-29%)

The Sandero (+12%) helps Dacia hit a record 6th place in Spain in August.

The Spanish new car market logically falls -29% year-on-year in August because one year ago the market was artificially boosted up 49% by pre-WLTP stock clearing registrations. A better comparison set is August 2017, and this month fares much better indeed at +5.7% to 77.076 units. The year-to-date tally is down -6.6% on the same period a year ago at 913.433 but up 6.9% on the 2017 figure. Again very logically, private sales (-25%) fare the best this mont hat 43.858 and 56.9% share vs. 53.9% in August 2018, being the least affected by last year’s stock clearance. Company sales (-33.3%) skid down to 29.045 and 37.7% share vs. 40.1% a year ago while rental sales (-35.9%) plunge to 4.173 and 5.4% share vs. 6%. Year-to-date, it’s company sales that fare the best at -2.1% to 288.941 and 31.6% share vs. 30.2% with rental sales also relatively strong at -2.4% to 208.063 and 22.8% vs. 21.8%, revealing private sales (-11.4%) as the main culprit of this year’s YTD fall at 416.429 and 45.6% share vs. 48% over the same period in 2018.

The Mitsubishi ASX smashes its ranking record from #37 to #8.

Peugeot (+8.5%) reclaims the brands top spot both in August and year-to-date (+15%), being the only Top 5 carmaker to gain ground this month. It is followed by Volkswagen (-17.7%), Seat (-26.3%), Toyota (-13.7%) and Citroen (-1.9%) all gaining share year-on-year however. Dacia (+4.6%) is the only other volume gainer in the Top 17, leaping up to a record 6th place eclipsing its previous best of #7 reached in August 2014 and April 2015. Opel (-16.7%) also resists ok at #7 but Kia (-61.2%), Renault (-55.2%) and Hyundai (-32.3%) implode in the remainder of the Top 10. Further down, notice Tesla (+607.1%), Suzuki (+46.1%), Mitsubishi (+41%), Lexus (+33.2%), Honda (+4.1%) and Smart (+2.4%) all in positive in a challenging month. New brand Cupra remains at #37 both in August and YTD.

Peugeot snaps the YTD pole position.

Model-wise, the Dacia Sandero (+12%) brilliantly 3peats at #1, widening the gap with the #2, the Nissan Qashqai (-54.1%) to almost 1.000 sales for the month. The Sandero (+8.4%) remains however #2 YTD, just under 2.000 units below the Seat Leon (-2.6%), down to #5 this month (-28%). The Opel Corsa (+21.9%) continues to benefit from heavy discounts on the outgoing generation, climbing onto the podium for the first time since May 2017 at #3. The Mitsubishi ASX (+72.8%) leaps up a fantastic 55 spots on July to break into the Spanish Top 10 for the first time at #8, smashing its previous best of #37 from December 2016. The new Toyota Corolla also cracks the Spanish Top 10 for its 6th month of sale at #9. The VW Golf (-6.6%) is up 9 spots on July to #6, the Peugeot 3008 (-13.5%) is up 6 to #7 but the Renault Clio (-38.4%), Seat Ibiza (-34.6%) and Leon (-28%) are all in great difficulty in the remainder of the Top 10. The Peugeot Rifter (+394.8%), Peugeot 5008 (+66.2%), Toyota RAV4 (+49.7%), Jeep Renegade (+49.2%), Kia Stonic (+26.7%) and VW Polo (+22.3%), also shine in the Top 50, with the VW T-Cross (#51), Citroen C5 Aircross (#59) and Lexus UX (#88) the next best-selling new launches. We welcome the Mazda CX-30 at #129.

Previous month: Spain July 2019: Dacia Sandero repeats at #1, Seat Arona on podium in market down -8.3%

One year ago: Spain August 2018: Pre-WLTP stock clearing triggers record volume, sends Kia Carens to pole position

Full August 2019 Top 50 All-brands and Top 310 All-models below.