Spanish market saw a small rise in March, while the top-ten car brands jostled for position despite diesel a dip, according to latest Dataforce figures.

In 7th, Fiat scored the highest growth inside the top 10 with +261.2%

The Spanish total market managed a 2.0% growth rise with 133,000 registrations in March, with special channels up by 3.7%, while the private market took its first negative month since July 2017 with a reduction of 4.1%.

This leaves true fleet, which continues to keep up its 2018 trend of double-digit growth with an impressive +14.0% and closes out a very successful Q1, writes Richard Worrow from Dataforce.

The top 10 brands have been jostling for position, with only two OEMs retaining their places in March. Volkswagen retook the top spot for March while Renault took 2nd.

While Audi could not retain its stellar 1st position from February, it did produce a +42.1% moving from 7th to 3rd in the month-on-month comparison.

Nissan in 4th was one of the non-movers while Peugeot in 5th and BMW in 6th swapped places from last March rankings.

Fiat in 7th scored the highest growth inside the top 10 with +261.2% thanks to the Fiat 500 that contributed 81.9% of the brand’s true fleet registrations. March also marked Fiat’s first month inside the OEM top 10 in Spain since November 2008.

Citroën was another new entry into the top 10, moving from 11th to 8th off the back of a respectable +28.8%, while Ford in 9th had dropped 6 places. In 10th place, Seat was the last non-mover.

Worrow writes that most sub-segments of true fleet are currently showing a heavy shift away from diesel. However, the long-term rental (LTR) or “renting” channel is riding out the storm, showing a drop of only 1.8% YTD (year-to-date). And while the channel grows, diesel remains on an even keel. Audi is currently reaping the most benefit with a YTD increase of 57.2% but further down the ranking both Hyundai (+80.3%) and Skoda (+100.0%) are also benefiting, though at smaller volumes.