With the national car market falling in the first half of the year, Peugeot maintains and even strengthens its leadership among the models preferred by Portuguese drivers. Until June, the “lion brand” owned two of the best-selling passenger car models: 2008 and 208.
In the case of the 2008 leader, sales were up 4.9% over the first half of 2021, to 3,039 vehicles, meaning that one in 25 vehicles registered between January and June was a 2008 Peugeot. 13.3%, by 2550 units.
Rounding out the podium is the Renault Captur, which, compared to the first quarter of this year, surpassed the Clio to become the French manufacturer’s most popular model. In the first six months of the year, 2,276 Captur units were registered, down 37% from the year before. It was followed by the Citroën C3 with 2,048 cars sold and the Dacia duo of Sandero with 1,820 units and the Duster with 1,511 cars. In the case of the Sandero, sales increased by 72.2% compared to the first half of last year, while in the case of the Duster, the growth reached 97.5%.
The top 10 also included the Seat Arona, Toyota Yaris, Renault Clio and the former Toyota Corolla and Peugeot 3008.
Mercedes and BMW in a sharp fall
Mercedes-Benz is one of the brands whose most popular model has dropped the most. Class A enrollment fell 52.6% year-on-year, while Class C dropped 31%. These are the only two models the German brand places in the Top 50 (in the 2021 set, the CLA and E-Class also made the list of the top 50 best-selling models).
Germany’s BMW, for its part, saw a 46.4% drop in 1 Series sales (about a thousand fewer units sold) compared to the first half of last year. In Series 3, the decline was smaller: 12.9%. In Series 5, the Bavarian brand increased sales by 19.7%.
Model Y retains leadership in Tesla
The Model Y retained the lead it achieved in the first quarter as Tesla’s most popular model. In the first six months of the year, 576 units were registered, 102 more than the Model 3’s 474.
Also note the increased presence of Eastern brands in the Top 50. Toyota, Hyundai and Nissan each placed four models among the most popular through June, while Kia is represented by two models: Stonic and Rio.
