Dacia, owned by France’s Renault, returned to a decline in registrations in September after it had managed to make up for weak sales in the first few months of the year.
The romanain carmaker’s market share climbed to 4.25% in France in the first nine months, from 3.76% in the same period in 2011, according to the French carmakers association.
In September, Dacia registrations in France dropped 14.1%, to 4,533 units, while overall new car registrations dropped 18.3%, to 136,859 units. Dacia’s market share rose in September to 3.31% from 3.15% in September last year.
Dacia registrations in France started picking up in May, after massive declines in the first months of the year, and managed to nearly make up for the loss. In January-August, Dacia registrations posted a 1.7% decline on the year, to 56,281 units, while the French market had contracted 13.4%. The growth of Dacia registrations was also supported by the introduction of the Lodgy model.
Duster is Dacia’s best selling model in France in January-September, ranking 12th out of 100, with 25,913 units, which translates into a market share of 1.8%. Dacia Sandero ranks 16th, with 20,648 units, and a market share of 1.4%. Dacia Lodgy ranks 40th among the top selling 100 models, with 9,105 units, and a market share of 0.6%, while the Logan ranks 68th, with 5,093 units, and a market share of 0.4%.
On the light commercial vehicle segment, Dacia registrations declined 12.8% in the first nine months, to 3,237 units, and the decline was of 68% in September, to 126 units. The French light commercial vehicle market dropped 7.9% in January-September, to 287,200 units, and by 12.5% in September, to 30,000 units.
French carmaker Renault, which owns Dacia, declined 16.5% in January-September registrations, to 423,213 cars and light commercial vehicles, while the decline nearly doubled in September to 29%, to 43,000 units.