The Portuguese's loyalty to German and French cars has not diminished over the years – this is the conclusion of a study by carVertical, an automotive data company, which identified the most popular imported car models in the first half of 2024. Used models from the brands Renault, Mercedes-Benz and Peugeot are among the most sought-after.

Renault cars are the most in demand in the used market.

In the first half of the year, the Portuguese showed the greatest interest in the history of Renault Megane cars – they represented 6.3% of the total number of vehicles verified on “carVertical”, followed by Mercedes-Benz A-Class (4.5%), Peugeot 308 (3.6%), Renault Clio (3.2%) and Volkswagen Golf (3.2%).

In the same period in 2023, the Megane was only fifth with a share of 3.8%. At that time, the most tested car was the Mercedes-Benz C-Class (8.6%).

“The Portuguese market is characterised by contrasts. While some buyers prefer high-quality German cars, such as Mercedes-Benz, others look for cheaper city cars, from the Peugeot, Renault or Citroën groups,” says Matas Bozlis, car specialist at carVertical.

MINI's popularity is rising

Among all countries participating in the study, the MINI Coupé (+719.1%), Tesla Model 3 (+534%), Tesla Model X (+297.6%) and Audi RS 7 (+262.2%) saw the biggest growth in the first half of the year. The Jaguar E-PACE (+186.6%) achieved the biggest growth in the first half of the year.

The growing popularity of these models is good news for anyone planning to sell. The more demand there is for a car on the used market, the higher the price a seller can expect to get.

Mileage fraud is more common on popular models.

Popular models are often the target of fraud. The market is saturated with cars with fake mileage, which can cause countless problems for new owners. When you do not know exactly how much mileage your car has traveled, it is difficult to follow the manufacturer's recommendations and perform timely maintenance.

In the first six months of 2024, 3.8% of all Megane cars checked on carVertical in Portugal had their odometer readings tampered with, so buyers should be particularly careful and avoid making deals without checking the vehicle’s registrations. Other highly sought-after models also tend to have odometer changes: Mercedes-Benz A-Class (1.9%), Peugeot 308 (6.1%), Renault Clio (1.1%) and Volkswagen Golf (2.1%).

Stability of the used car market

In almost all markets, used car prices continue to stabilize and gradually decrease. This decrease in prices is due to the recovery of the new car market, as there are no longer major production delays in cars, as there were a few years ago. As more new cars are manufactured, more models enter the used market.

As for electric cars, the market has rebounded in countries that have recently introduced new incentives, but this is only a temporary trend. In the long run, the electric car market is likely to struggle. After all, some manufacturers have already started to reinvest in internal combustion engine cars.

“People who wanted electric cars already have them. The remaining drivers don’t see the need to switch to this type of vehicle because they don’t have a place to charge them or don’t have the money to buy them,” explains Bozlis.

According to Bozlis, used car purchases rebounded slightly and the number of transactions in major European markets increased steadily in the first quarter of this year.