Spain Full Year 2021: Seat Arona and Hyundai Tucson top market edging up 1%

The Seat Arona signs its very first annual win at home.

Discover almost 50 years worth of Spanish Historical Data here

New car sales in Spain end up only edging up 1% year-on-year in 2021 to 859,477 units. The microchip crisis has negated the recovery the industry was expecting after a year 2020 hampered by Covid lockdowns. Worryingly, private sales, arguably an indicator of “real” demand for cars, skid down -12.8% to 372,637 units. Company sales edge up 2.1% to 334,514 while rental sales enable the market to end the year in positive at +58.5% and 152,326 registrations. In terms of regions, Madrid soars 15.5% to 364,416 and a whopping 42.4% share of the total market, whereas Cataluña drops -10.5% to 110,728 and Comunidad Valenciana dips -7.7% to 74,149. Canarias (+21.4%) and Baleares (+4.8%) are the only two additional regions in positive.

Seat (+3.5%) remains the most popular carmaker at home with 8.2% share while Peugeot (+2.4%) and Toyota (+8.2%) both overtake Volkswagen (-7.6%) to climb to #2 and #3 respectively. Hyundai (+26.7%) and Kia (+20.2%) sport the largest year-on-year gains in the Top 20, with Hyundai up two spots to #5 and Kia remaining at #6. Citroen (+7.4%) also outpaces the market in the remainder of the Top 10 while BMW (-0.1%) is stable and both Renault (-7.9%) and Dacia (-6.7%) decelerate. Jeep (+17.5%) and Skoda (+16.6%) shine in the remainder of the Top 20 with Cupra (+640.8%) ending its first full year of sales just outside at #21. Notice also Tesla (+118.9%) up six ranks to #28. The best-selling newcomers are all Chinese: MG lands at #36, Lynk & Co at #37, SWM at #46 and Zhidou at #48.

Model-wise, after an interruption last year, Seat reclaims the top spot in 2021 for the 13th time in the past 14 years but with a different nameplate: the Arona (+42.8%) signing its very first annual win at home (and in the world) and up five spots on 2020. A discreet facelift helped the model to pole position but the 2nd-ranked vehicle is even more impressive: the Hyundai Tucson soars 66.8% year-on-year and 17 ranks thanks to the new generation. Leader last year, the Dacia Sandero (-15%) drops to #3 despite a new model. Another outstanding performance is delivered by the Peugeot 2008 (+27.6%) up three ranks to #4 while the Toyota Corolla (+9.7%) rounds out the Top 5 like last year. The Fiat 500 (+30.8%) is up 10 spots to #10, the Citroen C3 (+23.2%) and VW T-Roc (+23.2%) both up 6 ranks to #8 and #9 and the Peugeot 3008 (+14.7%) is up two to #6. Leader in 2019, the Seat Leon (-29.2%) crumbles down 5 spots to #7 for the year. The Renault Arkana (#48) is the best-selling 2021 launch and ended the year at #10 in December.

Previous month: Spain November 2021: Dacia Sandero tops market down -12.3%

Previous year: Spain 2020: Dacia Sandero ends 12 consecutive years of Seat domination in market down -32.3%

Two years ago: Spain 2019: Peugeot secures first annual crown, Seat Leon & Dacia Sandero most popular in market down (-2.4%)

Full Year 2021 Top 63 All-brands and Top 370 All-models vs. Full Year 2020 figures below.

Full December 2021 Top 50 All-brands and Top 290 All-models below.