– The petrol Renault Clio has jumped to the top of the sub-£10,000 retail margin chart after months of SUV dominance
– Hatchbacks have been climbing since December and the Clio is the clearest sign that compact stock is driving profit
– Competition for clean, retail-ready Clio stock is heating up, last year’s profit profile already shifting.
– The petrol Renault Clio has jumped to the top of the sub-£10,000 retail margin chart after months of SUV dominance
– Hatchbacks have been climbing since December and the Clio is the clearest sign that compact stock is driving profit
– Competition for clean, retail-ready Clio stock is heating up, last year’s profit profile already shifting.
The petrol Renault Clio has emerged as an early-2026 profit star for used car dealers, topping Dealer Auction’s latest Retail Margin Monitor for vehicles retailing under £10,000.
Dealer Auction said the Clio took the crown in the sub-£10,000 retail bracket as hatchbacks returned to favour after months of SUV-led profit performance.
The Renault was not the only compact model to break through: the diesel BMW 1 Series ranked third for retail margin, while the petrol Peugeot 208 was a new entry in ninth place.
The Clio’s rise comes as the market starts to re-balance away from a period where SUVs frequently dominated the top margin charts.
Dealer Auction said the move began in December 2025, when hatchbacks including the Ford Fiesta, Vauxhall Astra and Volkswagen Polo started to appear among the top profit performers.
By January 2026, it said compact models were also disrupting the over-£10,000 bracket, with new entries from the Vauxhall Corsa, Hyundai i10 and i20 helping hatchbacks take 40% of the model share.
Kieran TeeBoon, marketplace director at Dealer Auction, said the Clio’s performance was part of a wider trend dealers should not ignore.
“After spending months in the shadow of SUVs, hatchbacks are back,” he said. “Their profit performance will be food for thought for dealers, as competition for quality stock intensifies. It certainly shows how fast today’s market is moving, dealers can’t just rely on last year’s top performers.”
While the Clio led the sub-£10,000 chart, Dealer Auction said SUVs are still delivering strong margins. The Peugeot 2008, 2025’s top profit-maker, held fourth place in the under-£10,000 rankings, and the Nissan Qashqai continued to perform strongly across both retail brackets.
The Qashqai also remained a quick seller, shifting in an average of 26 days. In the over-£10,000 segment, the Land Rover Discovery Sport, Hyundai Tucson and Volkswagen Tiguan led the way, with the Discovery Sport the top performer on an average margin of £3,990.
Dealer Auction also pointed to new buying opportunities through its ‘Best Buy’ metric, which ranks vehicles using a formula based on price competitiveness against CAP Clean, average retail margin and speed to sale.
Using that measure, the MG ZS was identified as the top “hidden gem” under £10,000 for January, while the all-electric Nissan LEAF was highlighted as one to watch.
For vehicles under £10,000, BMW topped Dealer Auction’s chart, followed by Mercedes-Benz and Volvo. Land Rover dropped out of the sub-£10,000 list after leading it for six months, but continued to dominate the premium end, retaining the top spot in the over-£10,000 chart for the 13th consecutive month.
Dealer Auction said it has enjoyed a strong start to 2026, reporting a record monthly total retail value of vehicles sold at £46m and record estimated trade profit of £1.6m in January.
However, it warned the wider used market faces stock challenges ahead. Autotrader’s Marc Palmer recently warned that five- and six-year-old cars are set to fall by 25% to 30% this year, a shift that could push dealers to rethink the age, fuel type and models they target.
TeeBoon said the Clio’s chart-topping performance is a reminder that the most profitable stock mix can change quickly. “With so many different forces at play, it’s no time to be complacent,” he said.
“Dealers, particularly independents who build their business on second and third-owner vehicles, are having to use all their experience and knowledge, as well as the data that’s available to them, to embrace these evolving market dynamics.”
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