Spain March 2021: Peugeot (+321.1%), Citroen (+280.1%) top market up 128% but down -30% on two years ago

The Peugeot 208 is the best-selling vehicle in Spain this month and YTD.

New car sales in Spain are up 128% year-on-year in March to 85.819 units and down -14.9% year-on-year so far in 2021 to 186.061. However these figures are compared with a lockdown volume in March 2020. A better way to read the true health of the Spanish market is to compare it with March 2019, and this time sales are down -30% for the month and -41.3% year-to-date. Looking at segments, private sales are up 101.3% to 33.955 and down -22.8% to 76.142 YTD, company sales soar 152.9% to 31.889 in March and edge down -1.4% to 76.395 YTD and rental sales are up 144.8% to 19.975 for the month and off -21.3% to 33.524 YTD.

In the brands ranking, Peugeot (+321.1%) more than doubles the market growth and loses just -22.1% on March 2019 to remain by far the most popular carmaker in the country with 10.1% share. It is followed this month by stablemate Citroen (+280.1%) also vastly outpacing the market to 7.4% share vs. 6.2% so far this year. Toyota (+77.7%) stays in third place while Hyundai (+119.3%) leaps up 6 spots on February to #4 above Volkswagen (+89.2%). Seat (+2.6%) posts the counter-performance of the month at a paltry 6th place but remains #2 year-to-date. Fiat (+201.8%) is the only remaining Top 10 brand to grow faster than the market.

Model-wise, the Peugeot 208 (+619.1%) replaces the 2008 as the best-seller in Spain and also nabs the YTD top spot. It is followed by the Citroen C3 (+467.3%) also in outstanding form and now #2 year-to-date as well. The Nissan Qashqai (+101.6%) rounds out the podium for March and YTD. The remainder of the Top 8 all outpace the market, with the Opel Corsa (+716%), Peugeot 3008 (+268.7%) and Hyundai Tucson (+241.7%) posting the largest year-on-year upticks followed by the Peugeot 2008 (+236.6%) and Fiat 500 (+214.1%). The Citroen C4 is estimated to climb to #24 to become the best-selling recent launch (<12 months) above the Cupra Formentor at #54.

Previous month: Spain February 2021: Peugeot 2008 scores first ever win in market off -38.4%

One year ago: Spain March 2020: State of emergency brings market down -69.3%

Full March 2021 Top 52 All-brands and Top 265 All-models below.