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The best-selling cars of January 2019

Miguel Lorente 4 February 2019 3 min.

The start of the new year always makes for a difficult month in terms of registrations, and the January 2019 best-selling car ranking proved it

The start of each year is always one of the worst moments for registrations, so much so that the January figures show a year-on-year decline of 8 percent compared with the same month of 2018.

In total, 93,546 passenger cars and SUVs were registered. This figure reflects a drop in sales not seen since the toughest years of the economic crisis. The sales volume has suffered most among private buyers, by almost 10%. Companies, for their part, also recorded 5.5% fewer registrations.

The battle is between SUVs and city cars

The trend holds, though with nuances. SUVs remain in fashion. With 22.2% of total registrations, mid-size SUVs are contesting the top spot with city cars which, at 21.9 percent, take second place, followed by compact cars at 19.9% and, behind them, just off the podium but with designs on third place, smaller SUVs with 16.6% of total sales. All these segments are seeing sales growth.

By contrast, the models that have fared worst in 2019 are mid-size saloons, down 44.8%, followed by large MPVs and then small estates. This shows these cars are at their lowest commercial point.

For their part, SUVs also suffered an overall drop of 14.6%.

Diesel continues to decline

In terms of engines, the best-selling cars by fuel type were petrol-engined cars, with 60%. Diesel remains the second most requested fuel, at 28.9%. Meanwhile, the remaining vehicles, which include electric cars, account for just 1.1% of new registrations.

Ranking of the best-selling cars of January 2019

Either way, the trend holds with certain brands and models that last year stood out as the best-selling cars of 2018.

In first place, the Dacia Sandero tops the list as the best-selling car of January 2019. The Romanian model registered up to 3,153 new cars. Just over 200 more than the number in the 2018 top 10, the Seat León, which with 2,966 units is the best-selling vehicle of the Spanish brand. Followed by the Seat Ibiza with 2,726 new cars.

The Volkswagen group leads the table, since while the Seat León and Ibiza accompany the Sandero on the podium, further back the perennial Volkswagen Golf sits one step below them, having sold 2,345 units.

The best-selling SUV of January 2019

Further down appears the best-selling SUV of January 2019: the Nissan Qashqai. A crossover that recently announced an expansion of its Nissan Qashqai diesel engines, which may give it even more support despite the low fortunes of this fuel.

1,971 new Nissan Qashqai are on our roads, ahead of 1,775 for the next on the list, among both cars launched in January and SUVs, the Peugeot 3008.

Once again, the German group’s brands feature among the top 10. In seventh place among the best sellers is the Volkswagen Volkswagen Polo with 1,689 registrations. Then the Seat Arona with just one unit fewer sold, 1,688. Closing the list are the popular Toyota C-HR with 1,684 and the Peugeot 208 with its 1,681 vehicles sold.