In France, electric city cars outrageously dominate the market

With 2,129 units sold, the new Fiat 500 is still the best-selling electric model in France in May. It is followed by the Peugeot e-208.

With a market share that has been on the rise for several months, electric cars continue to experience growing success. An increase in sales that we owe in large part to the increasingly large offer from all manufacturers, but also no doubt to financial incentives from the government.

Added to this is also the development of charging infrastructure, while the European Union now wants to see a fast terminal every 60 kilometers throughout the Old Continent. While the latter voted yesterday to ban the sale of thermal cars in 2035, sales of trendy models can only jump in the coming years.

The Fiat 500, still the leader

But then, which models are doing the most right now? If the Peugeot 208 and Renault Clio duo still remains at the top of global sales, the electric car segment is now dominated by the Fiat 500. The trendy city car has indeed totaled no less than 2,129 sales during the last month. It is then followed by the Peugeot e-208, sold at 1,668 units and the Renault Twingo E-Tech Electric, with 1,500 registrations. The Renault Zoé is placed at the foot of the podium (1,448 copies), followed by the Dacia Spring (1,357 copies).

On the other hand, and despite its success around the world, the Tesla Model 3 does not even appear in the top 10 best-selling electric cars in France. And for good reason, only 111 units were sold last May, against 10 in April. For its part, the Tesla Model Y is also struggling to establish itself with us, while only 40 copies found takers last month on the territory. It’s normal, these “bad” numbers are due to Tesla’s delivery rate, since the cars arrive by ship from the United States and Shanghai, which gives erratic delivery numbers depending on the month.

It should be noted that over the first 5 months of the year, it is the Dacia Spring which is at the top of the podium, closely followed by the Fiat 500 in second position then the Peugeot 208 on the last step of the podium. We then find in order: the Tesla Model 3, the Renault Zoé, the Renault Twingo, the Peugeot e-2008, the Hyundai Kona, the Mini Cooper SE and finally the Kia e-Niro.

Declining sales, except for electric

Overall, the new car market is far from happy. And for good reason, this is down 10.09% compared to last year (-35% compared to 2019), while only 126,810 vehicles were registered in May. A real free fall, which would be largely explained by the delays in deliveries due to shortage of semiconductors. According to AAA Data, “ the deficit of vehicles put on the road compared to 2021 continues to increase with more than 120,000 vehicles late. The annual trend is now dipping towards a new market at 1,450,000 units“.

A worrying situation for the industry, while the organization specializing in data evokes a ” back to the end of the 60s of the last century “. Nevertheless, all is not all black, since the electric car market is doing very well, with sales up 31.84% compared to May 2021. In total, no less than 15,246 registrations were recorded last month, equivalent to a good market share of 12%, compared to 7.1% last year.

Sales figures

Here are the sales figures for the top 10 best-selling electric cars in May 2022.

With the rise in electric car sales, electrified cars could overtake their petrol and diesel counterparts in the coming weeks in the number of new vehicles registered in France.
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