The loss of the French bonus weighed heavily on registrations of the three most popular Chinese-made electric models on the French market, according to a Reuters calculation based on industry and company data.
The surge in imports of Chinese cars into Europe has led the European Union to threaten customs duties, one of the areas of friction expected to be addressed during the Chinese president’s state visit to France on Monday.
While over the period January-November 2023, the registrations of the Dacia Spring (Renault RENA.PA), the Model 3 from Tesla TSLA.O and the MG4 from the SAIC group
600104.SS had represented 24% of electric car registrations in France, this weight has continued to erode since January, going from 22% at the start of the year to only 4% in April, the month for which the figures were published on Wednesday.
Last December, however, the weight of the three models jumped to 32% due to an influx of demand in anticipation of the tightening of the rules for granting the electricity bonus – now between 4,000 and 7,000 euros – from December 15.
The French government has decided to take into account CO2 emissions over the entire vehicle production cycle in order to favor the most virtuous models, effectively excluding from the aid system vehicles imported from Asia due to the distance traveled and the energy mix used to produce them.
Electric cars manufactured in Europe have found themselves favored.
The trend since the start of the year has, however, been temporarily exacerbated by 50,000 additional orders linked to the “social leasing” system, which closed at the beginning of February and to which vehicles manufactured in China cannot claim either.
The drop in registrations of the trio made in China was also accentuated by the transition from the old Spring to the new one, the first deliveries of which will begin in September, and by MG’s strategy of placing the emphasis in 2024 on sales. hybrid models.
Thanks to the tightening of the bonus, the French government hopes to give European manufacturers a reprieve to reduce their competitiveness gap with Chinese brands, in time to face their upcoming offensive this time on small models affordable enough to achieve commercial success without needing a bonus from the State.
(Report by Gilles Guillaume and Leigh Thomas, edited by Blandine Hénault)