Portugal April 2020: Peugeot 208 leads, Dacia, Nissan Leaf solid in market down -87%

The Peugeot 208 is the best-selling vehicle in Portugal in April.

Under a national COVOD-19 lockdown all through the month, Portuguese new car sales recede -87% year-on-year in April to just 2.749 units, pulling the year-to-date volume down -40.4% to 48.031. Peugeot (-86.8%) snaps the brands lead for the 2nd time this year and the 4th time in the past 9 months but drastically lower volumes this month prevent it from toppling Renault (-91.6%), still leader YTD. Mercedes (-76.3%) remains at a fantastic 2nd place with 11.3% share above BMW (-80.3%) repeating at #3 with 9.6% of the Portuguese market. Dacia (-59%) posts by far the best hold in the Top 10 – and Top 20, leaping up 7 spots on March to break into the Top 5 for the first time at #5, eclipsing its previous best of #8 in August 2017. Hyundai (-80%) , Nissan (-81%) and Ford (-85.1%) also manage to limit their fall to below the market rate in the remainder of the Top 10.

The Peugeot 208 (-79.2%) celebrates its first monthly win in Portugal for this second generation, and the first one for the nameplate since January 2016. It topples the Mercedes A-Class (-77.8%) which remains at an impressive 2nd place for the month as it is YTD and it was over the FY2019. The Renault Clio (-92.8%) repeats at #3 and remains #1 YTD. The Dacia Sandero (-63.4%) leaps up 18 spots on March to #4 and the Nissan Leaf (+10.9%) scores the only year-on-year gain in the Top 30, pushing up 63 ranks on last month to a record 5th place overall, eclipsing its previous best of #8 from January 2019. The BMW 3 Series (-59.1%) is up 12 spots on March to #6, the Hyundai Kauai (-74%) is up 17 to #8 and the Fiat Tipo (-89.2%) is up 33 to #9.

Previous month: Portugal March 2020: Coronavirus lockdown halts market -57.4%, Tesla Model 3 up to #2

One year ago: Portugal April 2019: Renault (+12.2%), Peugeot (+14.7%), Citroen (+30.2%) stun, Top 5 models all French in market down -1.7%

Full April 2020 Top 35 All-brands and Top 210 All-models below.