The French automobile market grew by 10.9% last month, a rebound helped by two additional working days compared to April 2023 (AFP / Christof STACHE)
The French automobile market grew by 10.9% last month, a rebound helped by two additional working days compared to April 2023, and where Renault stood out, according to statistics published on Wednesday.
Nearly 147,000 new passenger cars were registered in April, 17% of which were electric, the Automobile Platform (PFA) which brings together French manufacturers and equipment suppliers said in a press release.
March, with two working days fewer than a year earlier, was marked by the first decline in registrations in one month from one year to the next since 2021 (-1.47%).
In April, “without the two additional days, the market would have been equal to that of last year”, explains to AFP François Roudier, communications manager for the PFA, for whom the general trend is towards “settling down” , far from the figures before the health crisis. “One month of April before Covid, there were more than 160,000 cars,” he emphasizes.
The double-digit growth in April nevertheless allows the market to achieve an increase of 6.95% since the start of the year. For the future, Mr. Roudier reserves his prognosis, given the economic uncertainties and “complicated sales to professionals”.
Stimulated by “social leasing”, registrations of electric cars reached 18% of the market over the first four months of the year, one point more than the average for all of 2023. But professionals still buy few of them (35% of the total approximately), notes Mr. Roudier.
On the brand side, Renault is doing well with 12.1% growth in April, driven by the success of the Clio hybrid and the Austral SUV. But the “low cost” Dacia (-8.6%) boosts the performance of the Renault group, below the market trend, with an increase of 4.5%.
The diamond company captured 26% of the French market last month, just below the 26.2% of the Franco-Italian-American giant Stellantis, whose registrations only increased by 2.6% over one year, in the launch phase. new high-volume models such as the Peugeot 3008 and Citroën C3. If Peugeot is moving in the green (+6.6%), Citroën (-14%) and DS (-36.4%) weigh on the average.
Leading importer, the Volkswagen group exceeded 15% of the market in April, with a 17.8% increase in its registrations, notably boosted by Skoda (+32.9%). But this progression pales in comparison to that of Toyota (+81.8%), fourth in the ranking with 8.7% market share. The Yaris and its Cross SUV version are placed in the “top 10” of 2024 bestsellers.
The fortunes of the Japanese group also match that of the progression of hybrid cars of which it is the historical specialist. These have attracted 37.2% of customers since the start of 2024, an increase of 6.1 points over one year, taking first place from gasoline-powered automobiles (33.1%, -5.8 points). Former stars of the market, diesels now only hold 7.6%.
While there are as many SUVs as sedans (46% for each category, the balance being mainly made up of station wagons), the best-selling car since January is the Peugeot 208 (6.2% of the total), followed the Renault Clio (5.2%) and the Dacia Sandero (4.9%).