2018 (Q3) France: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers, Brands and Models

January to September 2018: PSA was again the largest carmaker in France while Renault was the best-selling brand and the Clio the top-selling model.

Renault Clio at Geneva

During the first nine months of 2018 the French new car market expanded by 6.5%. Most major car manufacturers increased sales in France with the French manufacturers performing particularly well. The PSA Group remained the largest carmaker in France followed by Renault and the Volkswagen Group as largest car importer in France. Renault was the top-selling brand followed b Peugeot, Citroen and Dacia. The Renault Clio and Peugeot 208 were again the top-selling car models while the Toyota Yaris replaced the VW Polo as the favorite foreign car model of the French in 2018.

French New Car Market in 2018 (Q3)

New passenger vehicle registrations in France increased by 6.5% during the first nine months of 2018 with 1,662,684 cars registered for the first time – an increase of 100,000 cars compared to the same three quarters of 2017.

Most of the growth accrued to French car manufacturers (+12.6%) for a market share of 57.6%. Foreign brands took a 42.4% market share with sales down by 0.7%. (However, the move of Opel sales from β€œforeign” to β€œFrench” accounts for about half of the gains.)

The move away from diesel continued with petrol vehicles taking a 54% share of the French new car market thus far in 2018 compared to 40% for diesel. During the first three quarters of 2017, diesels had a 48% share and petrol 47%.

Thus far in 2018, electric cars had a 1.22% share of the French new car market with 20,223 registrations compared to 1.2% and 18,763 electric cars sold during the first nine months of 2017.

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in France in 2018 (Q1-Q3)

The top-selling carmakers in France according to new passenger vehicle registrations for the first nine months of 2018 according to the CCVA were as follows:

Q1-3/2018 % Change 17/18 Q1-3/2017 Q1-3/2016
Total Market 1,662,684 6.5 1,560,885 1,502,457
French 957,839 12.6 850,847 816,188
Imported 704,845 -.7 710,038 686,269
Manufacturers:
PSA Group 528,870 17.1 451,813 426,637
– Citroen 161,093 4.1 154,697 149,278
– DS 18,827 19.6 15,747 22,679
– Peugeot 294,691 8.3 272,143 254,680
– Opel 54,259 – 9,226
RENAULT Group 428,768 7.5 398,958 388,761
– Renault 319,746 3.2 309,706 303,637
– Dacia 108,234 21.3 89,252 85,124
BMW Group 61,669 -.2 61,769 63,291
– BMW 42,512 -1.6 43,202 44,385
– Mini 19,143 3.1 18,559 18,895
DAIMLER Group 50,726 -1.3 51,392 47,893
– Mercedes-Benz 45,613 -.7 45,950 41,737
– Smart 5,113 -6.0 5,442 6,156
FCA Group 81,839 23.6 66,237 59,108
– Alfa Romeo 7,302 10.5 6,608 4,969
– Fiat 62,711 22.6 51,143 45,827
– Jeep 11,108 43.8 7,726 7,544
FORD Group 63,075 -1.4 63,967 60,543
GM Group 93 -99.8 45,683 52,281
– Opel – – 45,548 52,162
HYUNDAI Group 59,241 22.2 48,469 45,084
– Hyundai 26,683 27.5 20,929 20,239
– Kia 32,558 18.2 27,540 24,845
NISSAN Group 52,827 -6.8 56,680 54,565
– Nissan 51,914 -5.8 55,085 52,090
TOYOTA Group 75,407 9.4 68,914 59,848
– Lexus 4,500 14.8 3,920
– Toyota 70,907 9.1 64,994 56,158
VW Group 196,467 3.4 189,997 188,883
– Audi 41,320 -13.2 47,622 47,091
– Porsche 4,129 10.1 3,751 3,708
– Seat 23,136 25.8 18,391 15,421
– Skoda 22,945 19.8 19,160 17,309
– Volkswagen 104,830 3.8 100,967 105,243
VOLVO Group 12996 13.1 11486 11086
Souce: CCFA

Top-Selling Carmakers in France in 2018 (Q1-Q3)

The PSA Group easily maintained its position as largest carmaker in France. Even without the addition of Opel, PSA numbers improved with all three traditional brands increasing sales. DS sales were up by a fifth but still short of the around 22,000 vehicles the brand sold during the first nine months of 2016 and 2015.

Renault remained the second largest carmaker in France with both Renault and Dacia increasing sales. Renault remained the largest car brand in France while Dacia overtook Volkswagen for the first time.

The Volkswagen Group remained the strongest foreign car manufacturer in France during the first three quarters of 2018 with all brands except Audi increasing sales. Seat sales in France were up by a quarter while Skoda sales were up by a fifth.

The FCA Group increased sales by nearly a quarter with all three largest brands increasing sales in France strongly: Fiat (23%), Jeep (44%) and Alfa Romeo (11%).

The Toyota Group slipped behind FCA despite increasing sales by 9.4%. Ford, BMW and Daimler all had weaker sales for all brands.

Sales of the Hyundai Group were up by 22% with both Hyundai and Kia brands increasing sales strongly in France thus far in 2018.

Nissan was by far the worst performing carmaker in France in 2018 with the exception of GM that is making its final appearance in the car sales statistics. Opel sales were still listed as part of GM during the period January to August 2017.

Best-Selling Car Brands in France in 2018 (Q1-Q3)

The top-selling car brands in France during the period January to September 2018 were as follows according to the CCFA:

Brand Q1-3/2018 % Change 17/18 Q1-3/2017 Q1-3/2016
1 – Renault 319,746 3.2 309,706 303,637
2 – Peugeot 294,691 8.3 272,143 254,680
3 – Citroen 161,093 4.1 154,697 149,278
4 – Dacia 108,234 21.3 89,252 85,124
5 – Volkswagen 104,830 3.8 100,967 105,243
6 – Toyota 70,907 9.1 64,994 56,158
7 – Ford 63,075 -1.4 63,967 60,543
8 – Fiat 62,711 22.6 51,143 45,827
9 – Opel 54,259 – 54,774 52,162
10 – Nissan 51,914 -5.8 55,085 52,090
11 – Mercedes-Benz 45,613 -.7 45,950 41,737
12 – BMW 42,512 -1.6 43,202 44,385
13 – Audi 41,320 -13.2 47,622 47,091
14 – Kia 32,558 18.2 27,540 24,845
15 – Hyundai 26,683 27.5 20,929 20,239
16 – Seat 23,136 25.8 18,391 15,421
17 – Skoda 22,945 19.8 19,160 17,309
18 – Mini 19,143 3.1 18,559 18,895
19 – DS 18,827 19.6 15,747 22,679
20 – Volvo 12,996 13.1 11,486 11,086
21 – Jeep 11,108 43.8 7,726 7,544
22 – Alfa Romeo 7,302 10.5 6,608 4,969
23 – Smart 5,113 -6.0 5,442 6,156
24 – Lexus 4,500 14.8 3,920 –
25 – Porsche 4,129 10.1 3,751 3,708
Souce: CCFA

Top-Selling Car Brands in France in 2018 (Q1-Q3)

Renault, Peugeot and Citroen maintained their traditional roles as the leading car brands in France with all three brands increasing sales. Peugeot grew the fastest and halved the gap to Renault in the past two years.

Dacia sales in France during the first three quarters of 2018 increased by more than a fifth allowing Renault’s budget brand to outsell Volkswagen for the first time in France. VW sales increased by 3.8% to near the levels of 2016.

Toyota increased its lead over Ford, which was one of very few leading brands with lower sales in France in 2018. Fiat was the most improved top brand and moved from tenth to eighth largest carmaker in France.

Opel sales were hardly changed from a year ago while Nissan slipped from eighth a year ago to tenth.

Despite slightly weaker sales, Mercedes-Benz and BMW both moved up one position as Audi slipped two places with the weakest performance of any top brand in France in 2018.

Best-Selling Car Models in France in 2018 (Q1-Q3)

The top ten best-selling cars in France during the first nine months of 2018 according to the CCFA were:

Make & Model Q1-3/2018 % Share/2018 Q1-3/2017 Q3/2016
1 Renault Clio IV 93,389 5.6 86,585 80,785
2 Peugeot 208 77,238 4.6 73,602 74,727
3 Peugeot 3008 II 64,753 3.9 52,151 NA
4 Citroen C3 III 58,047 3.5 50,223 NA
5 Renault Captur 54,607 3.3 50,217 54,661
6 Dacia Sandero 52,953 3.2 47,273 44,113
7 Peugeot 2008 51,252 3.2 51,509 50,640
8 Peugeot 308 II 47,514 2.9 50,759 58,951
9 Renault MΓ©gane IV 37,001 2.2 38,648 31,246
10 Dacia Duster 2 36,379 2.2
Souce: CCFA

The Renault Clio and Peugeot 208 maintained their traditional positions at best-selling car models in France during the first three quarters of 2018. Both models increased sales despite model updates due next year. The Clio increased market share by 0.1% to 5.6% while the 208 slipped by 0.1% to 4.6%.

The Peugeot 3008 was again the third best-selling car model in France thus far in 2018 while the Peugeot 2008 and Peugeot 308 slipped from fourth and fifth to seventh and eighth. As a result, the Citroen C3, Renault Captur and Dacia Sandero each moved up one position.

The Renault Megane was again the ninth most-popular car in France in 2018 while the Dacia Duster entered the top-ten list for the first time.

Last year’s number ten, the VW Polo, slipped to 14th position and also lost the title of the favorite imported car in France to the Toyota Yaris.