The Spanish car park is made up of just over 37 million vehicles, of which almost 25 million are cars, according to the 2021 statistical yearbook of the General Directorate of Traffic (DGT). Every day, on the streets and highways of our Millions of cars circulate in the country, which implies attending a dance of brands and models when we travel on public roads.
Now, what is the best-selling brand in Spain and what is the most popular in each autonomous community? It is likely that you have ever asked yourself these questions and you have not been able to find out for yourself by taking a look at the cars you see on the streets. The diversity of brands and models that are marketed in dealers in our country makes it difficult to make a rough count that could help us clear up any doubts.
Taking the statistical data provided by Faconauto as a reference, from Moveo we can establish a ranking of the best-selling models this year in Spain. The figures correspond to the units registered between the months of January and April 2023 and place Toyota at the top, with 26,282 cars sold.
In this way, the Japanese manufacturer reaffirms the leadership obtained in 2022 when it became the brand with the highest number of sales in Spain for the first time with 73,505 copies. Toyota led a historic podium along with Kia (63,345 units) and Hyundai (59,503), highlighting the Spanish preference for Asian brands.
Most of the models that are registered in Spain are gasoline and diesel. Despite the reluctance of the European Union to allow the sale of new cars with thermal engines beyond 2035 -they must run on synthetic fuels-, this technology accounts for more than 50% of registrations.
The privileged situation that Toyota has maintained in our country since last year when it took the surprise and became the best-selling brand allows it to repeat this 2023 as the leader in registrations. The Japanese manufacturer leads the sales ranking in four autonomous communities and in the autonomous cities of Ceuta and Melilla that Faconauto accounts for together.
Toyota ranks first in sales in Catalonia (3,651 registered cars), Andalusia (2,914), Galicia (788), Extremadura (315) and Ceuta and Melilla (106). In the Catalan community, the Japanese manufacturer is only the leader in the province of Barcelona (2,699), since in Tarragona (464) and Lleida (207) Peugeot rules, and in Girona, Hyundai (560).
Peugeot also puts its logo as the best-selling brand in four other regions, although it is only fourth in the country as a whole. The lion of the French manufacturer dominates the market in Castilla-La Mancha (974 units), the Basque Country (687), Navarra (253), La Rioja (183), that is, in communities with few operations.
It is in the provinces of Álava, Guipúzcoa and Vizcaya as a whole that the market is most fragmented in terms of the best-selling brands. There is only a difference of just over 100 units between the first brand with the most registrations in the first four months of the year, Peugeot (687), and the fifth, Renault (558).
Apart from Toyota and Peugeot, the rest of the leading brands by community are Seat (Canary Islands and Cantabria), Kia (Castilla y León and Murcia), Dacia (Asturias), Fiat (Aragon), Hyundai (Valencian Community), Opel (Baleares ) and Volkswagen (Madrid).
Citroën and Mercedes, 9th and 10th best-selling brands, are the only ones in the top 10 registrations that do not reign in any region. With regard to the French company, it is striking that in Galicia, where the chevron brand has its factory in Spain -in Vigo-, it is relegated to eighth place (sixth in the province of Pontevedra).
Fiat does not appear among the ten brands with the most sales in Spain, but instead its cars lead the list of registrations this year in Aragon. The 888 cars registered in the region by the Italian company are almost double the copies sold by Kia (466), which is second.
It is striking that during the first four months of the year only four cars of this brand were registered in the province of Teruel and another seven in Huesca. The rest (877) have been registered in Zaragoza, where Opel -with a factory in the province- only occupies 14th place with 119 sales until April. On the contrary, the German company heads the list of sales in the Balearic Islands, with 1,062 registered cars.
Ford is not in the top 10 best-selling brands and neither is it in the Valencian Community where it has its plant in Spain. Specifically in Almussafes (Valencia). However, their cars are the best sellers in the province of Valencia (986), ahead of Kia (793) and Toyota (789).
A similar situation occurs in Valladolid where Renault is the brand with the most registrations in the entire province (233), ahead of Dacia (177), belonging to the French group, but in the whole of Castilla y León it is second (655). just six units from Kia (661).
In Navarra the weight of Volkswagen, with a Pamplona factory, is also noticeable. The German company is second in sales in the foral community (249), very close to Peugeot (253). In the province of Barcelona, where the Seat factory is located, the Spanish manufacturer (2,350 registrations in the Barcelona regions) only gives the initiative to Toyota (2,699). In the rest of the Catalan provinces, only Girona is among the five brands with the highest number of registrations.
