Spain January 2020: Peugeot cements lead, Seat Ateca up to record #4 in market down -7.5%

The Seat Ateca is up to a record 4th place at home in January.

In a pattern we expect for most European Union markets this month, Spain starts the year down with January registrations at -7.5% year-on-year to 89.646. Company sales keep their head above the water, up 4.8% to 33.172 units and 37% share vs. 32.7% a year ago, but private sales implode -14.1% to 43.051 and 48% share vs. 51.7% and rental sales skid down -11.7% to 13.423 and 15% vs. 15.6%. Peugeot (-4%) confirms the leadership it snapped annually for the first time last year, improving its share to 9.2% vs. 8.7% over FY2019. Seat (-9.6%) and Volkswagen (-7.1%) complete the podium like last month while Toyota (+5.8%) posts the only gain in the Top 7 and jumps 6 spots on December to #4 with 7.2% share, exactly the same level as in neighbouring France. Audi (+7.6%), Mercedes (+6%), Kia (+5.4%) and Hyundai (+1.1%) also progress in the Top 12 but Opel (-20.8%) and Dacia (-20.2%) tumble down. Further down, Lexus (+57.5%), DS (+51.3%), Mini (+30.9%), Porsche (+23.3%), Subaru (+10.4%) and BMW (+8.4%) stand out while among brands selling less than 100 units, Dongfeng Sokon (+1000%), Tesla (+113.3%) and Bentley (+22.2%) shoot up. The carmakers that abused the system in December to get rid of polluting vehicles logically pay the price this month: Smart (-61.3%), Honda (-45%), Alfa Romeo (-40.8%), Jeep (-40.8%), Jaguar (-39.4%), Mitsubishi (-34%), Mazda (-32.8%), Ford (-31.6%), Suzuki (-30.5%) and Fiat (-26.9%) all fall apart.

The Dacia Sandero is #1 in Spain for the 5th time in the past 8 months.

Model-wise, the Dacia Sandero (-20.1%) is the best-selling vehicle in Spain outright like last January and for the 5th time in the past 8 months, this despite a ghastly fall but at #2 the Seat Leon (-24.9%) loses even more just as the new generation was unveiled. The Nissan Qashqai (+8.3%) climbs back onto the third place it held in FY2019 while the Seat Ateca (+71.3%) surges 30 spots on December to #4, slicing its ranking record in two (previous best at #8 in October 2017 and November 2018). The Peugeot 208 (+18.5%) gets a new generation boost and breaks into the Spanish Top 5 for the first time since last April. The Opel Corsa (+6.2%) rallies back up a spectacular 38 ranks on last month to #6, the Seat Arona (+1.6%) is back up to #7, the Toyota Corolla is up 11 to #8 and the Fiat 500 (+21.4%) up 72 spots to #9. Below, the Corolla, other successful recent launches are the VW T-Cross up 29 spots to #22, the Ford Puma landing directly at #54, the Kia Xceed up 8 to #57, the Lexus UX up 29 to #68 and the Mazda CX-30 up 4 to #83.

Previous post: Spain Full Year 2019: Peugeot secures first annual crown, Seat Leon and Dacia Sandero most popular in market down (-2.4%)

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

Full January 2020 Top 50 All-brands and Top 275 All-models below.