Spain August 2023: MG ZS surges to pole position

Surprise: The MG ZS is the best-selling vehicle in Spain in August.

The Spanish new car market is up 7.8% year-on-year in August to 55,957 units as holidays impact volumes as usual. This enthusiasm must be damped by the fact the market remains down -27% on pre-pandemic August 2019. The year-to-date tally is up 20.5% to 642,580 sales, meaning this month’s result shows a decrease in the sales growth rate. In the buyer type detail, private sales climb 19.5% to 29,823, company sales are up 5.7% to 22,945 while rental sales plunge -39.2% to 3,189. Year-to-date, all buyer types are in frank positive, this time with rental sales faring best at +52.1% to 114,542, private sales up 15.2% to 268,931 and company sales up 15.5% to 259,107. Looking at sales by province, La rioja (+40.4%), Aragon (+38.5%), Extremadura (+31.9%) and Asturias (+28.1%) are the most dynamic, with Cataluna up 21.2% but Madrid down -6.1%.

In the brands ranking, Toyota (+8.4%) easily tops the charts with 9.6% share vs. 8.4% so far this year. Kia (-12.9%) stays in 2nd place despite a steep year-on-year drop while its sister brand Hyundai (-16.6%) fares even worse year-on-year but climbs to #3 this month and to #6 year-to-date. Volkswagen (-9.5%) is also in a bad way at #4, followed by Peugeot (-5.8%) struggling too. Seat (+41.8%) and Renault (+37.1%) score the largest gains in the Top 10 with Citroen (+3.3%) and Mercedes (+2.9%) shy and Dacia (-3.5%) skidding. Below, MG (+261.7%) is up two spots on July to equal its ranking record at #12 (also reached last June) and breaks its all-time share high at 4.3%. Tesla (+2700%) also makes itself noticed at #18 with 2.6% share vs. #22 and 1.2% year-to-date.

We have a thunderbolt in the models ranking: the MG ZS (+206.4%) surges to first place for the month, becoming the first Chinese model to rank #1 in Spain. MG continues to gain market share in most European markets and stuns with outstanding gains not long before being introduced. The ZS’s Spanish pole position is an outstanding achievement. Relegated to 2nd place is the Dacia Sandero (+15.7%), still beating the market however. It remains the best-selling model year-to-date. The Toyota Corolla (+86.2%) also impresses at #3, distancing the Kia Sportage (-3.3%) and Toyota C-HR (+109.9%). The Citroen C3 (+44.3%) rallies back up 20 spots on July to #6, with the Seat Arona (+230.5%) scoring the largest gain in the Top 20.

Previous month: Spain July 2023: Dacia Sandero signs 7th win in past 10 months

One year ago: Spain August 2022: Toyota Yaris signs first win, market back in positive (+9.1%)

Full August 2023 Top 63 All brands and Top 299 All models below.