Portugal car sales in 2020: Renault, Peugeot and Mercedes-Benz stay on top

With the start of a new year, it is time to “close the books” on car sales in Portugal for 2020. In a year dominated by the Covid-19 pandemic, total sales across the market - light and heavy vehicles, for passengers and for goods - fell by 33.9%.

Portugal car market in 2020: overall results

Figures released by ACAP – the Portuguese Automobile Association show that, when the market is split into four categories, declines were widespread: down 35% for light passenger vehicles and down 28.3% for light goods vehicles; down 27.9% for heavy goods vehicles and down 31.4% for heavy passenger vehicles.

Altogether, between January and December 2020, 145 417 light passenger vehicles were sold, along with 27 578 light goods vehicles, 3585 heavy goods vehicles and 412 heavy passenger vehicles.

The year changes, but the leaders stay the same

Even though 2020 was highly unusual, one thing in Portugal’s car market did not shift: the podium of the best-selling brands - Renault, Peugeot and Mercedes-Benz.

Renault delivered 18 613 units, a decrease of 35.8% compared with 2019. Peugeot totalled 15 851 units (a drop of 33%). Mercedes-Benz ended 2020 with 13 752 units sold, down 17% versus 2019 - yet still the smallest decline among the three brands on the podium.

Interestingly, unlike what happened in 2019 - when Citroën became Portugal’s 3rd best-selling brand after adding light commercial vehicle sales - repeating the same calculation for 2020 leaves the podium unchanged.

As for the Top 10 brands by light-vehicle sales in 2020, the ranking was as follows:

• Renault
• Peugeot
• Mercedes-Benz
• Citroën
• BMW
• Fiat
• Ford
• Volkswagen
• Toyota
• Nissan

Luxury escapes the crisis

As you would expect, the 2020 figures point to a year in which virtually no brand managed to grow sales. The exceptions were luxury marques, as well as brands whose sales are usually so small that any positive movement becomes a sizeable percentage increase.

Luxury brands that grew in 2020

Building on the strong momentum carried over from 2019, Porsche sold 831 cars in 2020 (up from 749 in 2019), posting growth of 10.9%. Ferrari, with 30 units sold, grew 15.4%. Aston Martin rose 16.7% (selling 7 units instead of the 6 recorded in 2019), while Bentley matched its 2019 result by delivering 21 units.

The biggest riser among light vehicles: MAN

Finally, as a point of curiosity, do you know which brand saw the largest sales increase among light vehicles? It was… MAN. With 131 units sold of the only light vehicle it offers - the MAN TGE, sister model to the Volkswagen Crafter - the brand increased sales by 87.1% in 2020 compared with the previous year.