Spain January 2026: Mercedes up to record #5, Peugeot 208 lodges first win in almost 5 years

The Peugeot 208 is the best-selling vehicle in Spain in January.

Spanish new car sales edge up 1.1% year-on-year in January to 73,103 units, which is a much lower growth rate that this market had got us used to in the past few months. It can be partly explained by the extra 4,000 year-ago sales linked to insurance replacements in the wake of the devastating 2024 floods. Without these sales the market would be up 7% this month, which is more in line with current evolutions. The market is single handedly pulled up by sales to rental companies surging 63.5% to 10,016. Indeed private sales are off -6.4% to 35,775 and company sales down -2.4% to 27,312. Rechargeable cars (BEV+PHEV) soar 48.3% to 15,212 units and 20.8% share vs. 14.8% a year ago and believed to be a new record. La rioja (+23.2%), Cantabria (+17.8%), Galicia (+16.2%) and Madrid (+12^) are the best performing regions.

Looking at the brands ranking, Toyota (-5.5%) reclaims the lead it held over the Full Year 2025 with a splendid 9.7% share vs. 7.2% last month. Seat (+36.7%) posts a very satisfying score and climbs to #2 and 6.9% share, its best showing since March 2025. Peugeot (+43.6%) does even better and surges to third place vs. #8 over the FY2025. Rounding out the Top 5, Volkswagen (+10.6%) and Mercedes (+4%) both beat the market, with the latter hitting a new ranking record at #5. BMW (+21.7%), Skoda (+19.1%) and Audi (+11%) also shine below, but Dacia (-36%) is in total freefall at #10 as it also is in neighbouring France. At #19, local Chery assembler Ebro (+566.4%) hits a new share record at 2.3%.

The Peugeot 208 (+109.3%) more than doubles its sales year-on-year to spectacularly take the lead of the models charts with 2.8% share. As a reminder, it ranked #9 over the Full Year 2025. This is the first time in almost 5 years (since March 2021) that the 208 is the most popular vehicle in Spain. Seat places two models on the podium – a very rare feat: the Ibiza (+42.2%) is up two spots on December to #2 while the Arona (+79.6%) is up 15 to #3. The Toyota C-HR (+5.9%) also shines at #4, the nameplate’s highest since last September. Below the Toyota Corolla (-3.5%), the Dacia Sandero (-40.2%), #1 annually since 2023, falls to a paltry 6th place. Reversely, notice the success of the VW Tiguan (+78.1%), Peugeot 2008 (+56.6%), Seat Leon (+35.5%) and Opel Corsa (+33.5%).

Previous post: Spain Full Year 2025: Dacia Sandero and Renault Clio in the lead in strongest market in 6 years

One year ago: Spain January 2025: Dacia Sandero, Hyundai Tucson and MG ZS dominate in solid market

Full January 2026 Top 68 All brands and Top 345 All models below.