The Spanish true fleet sector suffered a second monthly fall in October as the switch to WLTP continued to bite, albeit significantly less than September.

The Renault Zoe led the EV model ranking in October

Latest analysis by Gabriel Juhas at Dataforce shows the sector fell 6.5% last month compared to the 15.4% decline seen in September. Private registrations were down 3.2% while the overall market fell to around 92,000 new registrations, equating to a 6.8% decline; somewhat better than the 17.1% seen in September.

The year-to-date picture is more rosy, with the true fleet sector up 14.4% while private registrations are up 7.9% and registrations by dealerships/manufacturers and short-term rental companies have risen 11.8%; overall the total passenger car market is up 9.9% for January to October.

Among the top 10 true fleet brands, Volkswagen took back the crown from Peugeot, which held it in September. The Polo had a very strong month with a 494.3% rise and led the Small Passenger Car segment for the first time since January 2012. Toyota and BMW, ranked third and fourth, saw huge gains. Toyota was up 24.0% and gained five positions in the ranking while BMW jumped from 12^th into fourth, thanks to a remarkable +42.8% rise. Meanwhile Nissan, which ranked eighth behind Renault, Mercedes and Seat, was the only brand between fifth and 12^th to record growth with a figure of 7.1%.

Looking at fuel type performance, the diesel sector saw its true fleet share fall below 60% for the first time ever in the Spanish fleet market, equating to 58.2% of all new registered company cars. More positive records were set by full electric cars and bivalent engines (CNG/Petrol and LPG/Petrol) while the Hybrid share (9.3%) was at its second highest.

Among the alternatively fuelled vehicle sector, the Renault Zoe led the EV model ranking in October, the Fiat Tipo clearly dominated the group of bivalent cars and the Toyota Prius Plus and the Mitsubishi Outlander were the most preferred hybrid and plug-in hybrid models respectively.