The French automotive sector recorded a remarkable performance in February, marking the best month of February since the end of the health crisis. Thanks to government social incentives, electric cars are experiencing a boom of more than 17% and it is Stellantis who is benefiting first and foremost.
Finally some good news for the French automobile market! The latter is starting to regain color with February up 13%, marking its best February since the end of the health crisis.
Electricity drives the market… thanks to government subsidies
Thanks to government incentives, electric vehicles have seen notable growth at the start of the year, with Stellantis particularly standing out. The French automobile market saw an increase of 13% compared to last year, with 142,597 new private cars registered during the month. The Automotive Platform (PFA), which represents manufacturers, nevertheless specifies that sales benefited from an additional working day with the leap year.
For the first two months of the current year, the market increased by 11.2% compared to the same period in 2023, a positive development after four years of sales weakened by the pandemic, disruptions in supply chains, semiconductor shortage and inflation.
As of February 2019 and 2020, approximately 170,000 units have been sold. Electric vehicles, which represent 17.3% of registrations since the start of 2024, an increase of 2.9 points over one year, and hybrids, capturing 36.7% of the market (+ 4.8 points), have were particularly stimulated by
the introduction of social leasing by the government allowing 50,000 less well-off households to access an electric car for around 100 euros per month. However, due to its success, this initiative has been suspended for the current year, with a resumption planned for the end of 2024 for 2025.
Demand for gasoline engines decreased to 33.9% (-4.1 points) and diesels fell to 7.5% (-3.9 points). The announced end of the purchase bonus for companies could slow down this trend, because new electric vehicles are mainly acquired by the latter. In addition, the ecological bonus has been reduced by 1,000 euros for the wealthiest households (4,000 euros maximum), with additional restrictions on the conversion bonus.
Only four models manufactured in France still benefit from this
help, including the Megane and ZOE from Renault, as well as the DS3 and Opel Mokka from Stellantis, with initial prices varying between 35,000 and more than 45,000 euros. Renault’s future R5, scheduled for spring 2024 and produced in Douai, will also be eligible.
Stellantis, hegemony
In February, Stellantis saw its sales increase by 21% year-on-year, led by Jeep (+117%), FIAT (+70%), Citroën (+29.6%) and Opel (+24.3%), capturing 31.9% of the market.
Renault, with 22.6% of monthly registrations, experienced growth of 5.9%, affected by Dacia (-1.4%). Obviously, with the Scénic E-Tech becoming the car of the year and especially the presentation in Geneva of the electric R5 E-Tech, the rebound will not take long to be felt.
Volkswagen, the largest importer, recorded an increase of 4.5%, while Toyota Group experienced growth of 24.4% thanks to Lexus (+ 119.3%) and Toyota (+ 21.7%).
Hyundai (with Kia) ranks fifth with 5.3% of registrations, followed by BMW with 5% of the market, but growth of 28.3%. Volvo (+63%), Suzuki (+54.3%) and Land Rover (+32.5%) also made significant progress.
However, Tesla saw its registrations decrease by 3.9% in February,
despite annual growth of 54.5% over the first two months of
2024, reaching 2.4% of the French market.
It remains to be seen how the trend will evolve over the year. With the end of subsidies in Germany, for example, the electric car market collapsed by 14% in just two months.
Source : AFP
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