Spain June 2020: Sales off another -36.7%, Renault Captur, VW T-Roc break ranking records

The Renault Captur hits a record 4th place in Spain in June.

The Spanish new car market is now slowly stirring out of lethargy after a strict Covid-19 lockdown was eased from May 4 onwards. Sales remain in dire straits though in the absence of any government intervention at -36.7% year-on-year to 82.651 units, the weakest June score since 2013 (72.881) to be compared with 130.513 in June 2019 and a June record of 172.967 in 2005. The Spanish government did announce a €3.75 billion stimulus program in mid-June mainly aimed at the manufacturing industry but also intended to replace existing cars older than 10 years for newer models. However nothing has been implemented just yet and it is unclear when this will happen. On the positive side, the worst has now passed when looking at year-on-year evolutions in March (-69.3%), April (-96.5%) and May (-72.7%). The year-to-date volume is now down -50.9% halfway through the year at 339.853 units which is estimated to be the lowest Spanish First Half volume since 1986 (est. 360.000 sales). We at BSCB had anticipated a slightly slower recovery and have therefore adjusted our 2020 forecast up to 827.000 units (-36%) which would be the weakest year since 2014 (857.635).

The VW T-Roc breaks into the Spanish Top 10 for the first time at #7.

All distribution channels are down by double-digits in June but encouragingly, private sales (-11.3%) fare the best at 44.694 and 54.1% share vs. 38.6% in June 2019. Company sales drop -28.2% to 28.114 and 34% share vs. 30% a year ago, with rental sales almost entirely responsible for the paltry June slump as they continue to crash down -76% to 9.843 units and 11.9% share vs. 31.4% in June 2019 at a crucial pre-Summer time. With international borders closed for most of the month and internal travel still restricted, tourism was non-existent and is likely to be particularly weak over the summer months, impacting rental car activity full frontal. Year-to-date, company sales this time fare best at -44.1% to 120.082 with private sales down -44.9% to 162.654 and 47.9% share vs. 42.7% in 2019 and rental sales again weighing the entire market down at -68.6% to 57.117 and just 16.8% share vs. 26.3% over the First Half of 2019. As it is now the case in most European markets, electrified vehicle sales swim upstream but volumes remain anecdotal in Spain: PHEVs are up 230% year-on-year to 1.454 and HEVs are up 23% but EVs crash -34%. Petrol sales halve at -47.5% to 43.383 and 52.5% share vs. 63.4% in June 2019 whereas diesel fares better at -28.2% to 24.272 and 29.4% share vs. 25.9%.

The Renault Clio is the best-selling vehicle in Spain in June.

Looking at the detail by region is an interesting test that shows some parts of the country are faring a lot better than the rest, such as Cetua y Melila down just -0.9% year-on-year but with the smallest volume (223), Pais Vasco down -6.1% to 3.308, Cantabria down -10.5% to 773, Galicia down -15.8% to 2.990, La rioja down -18.5% to 322, Navarra down -18.7% to 797, Aragon down -19.9% to 1.766, Extremadura down -21.6% to 938 and Cataluña down -22.5% to 12.029. In contrast, Madrid, by far the largest car sales centre in the country at 31.856 units in June, is down a massive -41.6% and pulls the entire country down. Similarly, Canarias – a holiday spot – is hit -58.1% to 2.537 and Valencia skids -55.3% to 7.377. Halfway through the year, the best performing regions are Cantabria (-41.6%) at 10.129, La rioja (-42.8%) at 1.363, Ceuta y Melilla (-43.6%) at 693 and Galicia (-44.4%) at 11.044. The worst are Baleares (-59%), another holiday spot at 7.120, Valencia (-58.9%) at 32.065, Murcia (-56.6%) at 6.444, Canarias (-54.1%) at 11.724 and Madrid (-51%) at 136.282. Cataluña is slightly above average at -48% to 47.437 sales.

The VW Tiguan drops just -8.4% year-on-year.

Volkswagen (-28.5%) signs its first pole position and highest share in two years, since ranking #1 with the same 9.4% share in June 2018, and advances to the #2 spot YTD in the process, each time knocking Peugeot (-42.7%) down from the May top spot and the #2 YTD rank. Renault (-40.7%) remains in third place for the month and #5 YTD while local behemoth Seat (-50%) is hit particularly hard this month with the steepest fall in the Top 15 but retains its YTD pole position. Mercedes (-15.7%), Toyota (-20.1%), Hyundai (-20.7%), Audi (-21.9%) and Kia (-25.6%) all outpace the market in the remainder of the Top 10 with Citroen (-49.3%) the only naughty kid standing. Further down, Bentley (+140%), Dongfeng (+75%), Cupra (+43.7%), Volvo (+15.2%), Land Rover (+12.6%) and Porsche (+8.3%) engineer the only year-on-year gains in market and we welcome another Chinese EV maker: JAC, with the very first Spanish sale for the iEV7S in June, however it seems to be a soft launch with no official website for any Spanish operations just yet. Note JAC already sells cars in Italy under the DR Motor brand, also present in Spain.

The Peugeot 2008 ranks #6 overall in Spain this month.

The Renault Clio (-7.6%) secures no less than the best hold in the Top 12 to score its first Spanish monthly win since last September at 3.1% share, distancing the YTD leader, the Seat Leon (-30.6%) slightly outpacing its home market and back up 3 spots on May to #2. The Dacia Sandero (-38.5%), leader last month, drops to #3 but matches the market. The Renault Captur (-22.5%) surges 10 spots on May to break its ranking record at #4, eclipsing the #5 it hit in June and December 2017. The Peugeot 2008 (-24.2%) is up 4 to a fantastic 6th place for the 2nd time in the past 3 months vs. #16 YTD while the VW T-Roc (-7.8%) breaks into the Top 10 for the first time at #7 and the Tiguan (-8.4%) also resist extremely well. The Volvo XC40 (+116.5%), VW T-Cross (+115%), Hyundai Kona (+33.8%), Toyota RAV4 (+27.6%), Audi A1 (+25.1%) and Mercedes A-Class (+6.1%) all post market-defying gains and rank inside the Top 30. The Ford Puma (#37) tops recent launches above the Kia Xceed (#45), Mazda CX-30 (#57) and Skoda Kamiq (#62) and we welcome the new Land Rover Defender at #201 and the Honda E at #233.

Note: Our usual Spanish source, ANIACAM, is not operative at this stage. This is a different source and some LCVs not included in the models charts which explains the different YTD volume and year-on-year variations.

Previous month: Spain May 2020: Dacia Sandero #1, Audi A1 #3 in market imploding -72.7% despite easing lockdown

One year ago: Spain June 2019: Seat (+8.9%), Peugeot (+9.7%) resist, Arona up to record #2 in 9th market drop in past 10 months (-5.9%)

Full June 2020 Top 50 All-brands and Top 265 All-models below.