Dacia and MG were big winners in France, where inflation is steering private car buyers toward less expensive models.
The Dacia Sandero was the top-seller last month in France’s private market, which grew 19 percent, helping the overall market increase by 9.4 percent.
The Sandero small hatchback was joined in the ranking of France’s top five-selling private-market models by the Spring (No. 3) and the Duster (No. 4), according to figures from market researcher Dataforce (see table, below).
“The brand delivers exactly what private customers are looking for at the moment,” Dataforce Senior Automotive Analyst Benjamin Kibies said, “namely affordable mobility when budgets are tight.”
When all sales channels are calculated, the Sandero was No. 3 last month with a volume of 4,717, behind the market-leading Peugeot 208 (7,279) and the Renault Clio (5,332).
The Spring was a big winner in February because government incentives of 5,000 euros (and up to 7,000 euros for low-income households) reduced the mini SUV’s price to about 15,000 euros.
“That is even tough to beat for small volume ICEs [cars with internal combustion engines] such as the Peugeot 208 or the Renault Clio,” Kiebes said.
Affordable models such as the MG4 EV are helping the Chinese brand outsell long-established rivals in the market such as Suzuki and Mazda.
MG’s overall volume in France rose nearly 300 percent to 1,090 cars.
The brand’s best-seller was the MG4 full-electric hatchback with 1,004 registrations, of which 899 came from the private market, according to Dataforce’s figures.