Car sales: Renault holds its ground thanks to electric vehicles, Dacia struggles... because of electric vehicles

Renault Group had a mixed third quarter. While Dacia continued to see declines, the Renault brand performed better thanks to the success of its electric models. This allowed the manufacturer to maintain its financial goals for 2026 despite falling sales volumes.

Renault Group registered 497,799 vehicles in the third quarter of 2026, a 6.0% decrease compared to the same period in 2025. This includes 420,563 passenger cars and 77,236 commercial vehicles. However, there are “mixed trends across different regions and brands.”

If both major brands are showing declines, the result is primarily dragged down by Dacia, which fell by 12.8% this quarter, continuing its poor performance in 2026 (a 9.7% decline since January). The brand admits it must contend with new Chinese competition and is affected by the accelerated electrification of the European market, where there is strong demand for 100% electric vehicles. While the Sandero is now available as a hybrid, the manufacturer has only one electric model, the Spring, which is also in transition with the arrival of its second generation. This new model is expected to help the brand recover in 2027. There will also be the launch of the large hybrid SUV Striker.

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Good start for the Twingo

Renault is performing better, with a 2.9% decline over the quarter and even a 6.3% increase in Europe. The company benefits from the success of its electric city cars. The new Twingo has already received 26,000 orders. In the first three quarters of the year, Renault’s electric vehicle sales in Europe rose by 75%!

In the third quarter, there was an even higher increase of 84.7% across the group as a whole. Electric vehicles accounted for 25.8% of the group’s total sales, representing a 12.2 percentage point increase in just one year. Including hybrid and plug-in hybrid vehicles, electrified sales made up 54.9% of the group’s passenger vehicle sales by the third quarter of 2026.

Alpine continues its upward trend, with 3,723 deliveries in the latest quarter, a 58.4% increase thanks to the A290. However, it is still far from the expected levels due to the failure of the electric SUV A390.

In terms of finances, sales revenue increased by 1.5% to reach 1.16 billion euros in the third quarter. Although sales volumes declined, the group benefited from a positive product mix, thanks in part to the Clio 6 having a higher selling price than the previous model and the success of its SUVs, as well as sales to partners (including Geely in Brazil).

Proof that Renault is doing well is its retention of its 2026 financial targets, aiming for an operating margin of around 5.5%, while other groups had to lower their targets further.

Renault Group Sales (PV + PU, all energy types combined)

Q3 2026

Trend

2026 Cumulative

Trend

Renault

349,901

– 2.9%

1,178,946

+ 1.1%

Dacia

144,175

– 12.8%

471,007

– 9.7%

Alpine

3,723

+ 58.4 %

12,269

+ 65.6 %

Total Group

497,799

– 6.0 %

1,662,222

– 2.2 %