Endless queues in front of service stations that are still open.
Arguments between motorists.
Customers who fill gas cans despite the ban.
The fuel shortage that has plagued France for several days shows once again the ultra-dependence of the French on cars, both in town and in the countryside.
A finding also supported by the Cetelem 2023 Automotive Observatory, published this Thursday ahead of the Paris Motor Show which takes place from October 17 to 23
(Study carried out by Harris Interactive from June 23 to July 8, 2022 with of 16,600 people in 18 countries: South Africa, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, China, Spain, United States, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom and Turkey)
.
The car is an increasingly expensive means of transport, but the French are keen on it, whatever the cost.
But how far?
More expensive new cars
New and used combined, it costs an average of 16,553 euros to buy a vehicle (compared to 16,700 in Europe).
But six out of ten French people think it's a reasonable price.
"The feeling of not having been bludgeoned remains strong", underlines Flavien Neuvy, economist and director of the Cetelem Observatory.
A vision that owes a lot to the Long-Term Rental (LLD) and Rental with Option to Purchase (LOA) systems put in place by manufacturers.
The average price of new vehicles sold in France is however up 9% in a decade to now approach 25,000 euros.
“Today, they are becoming a luxury product, supports Flavien Neuvy.
List prices have risen twice as fast as inflation over the past twenty years.
To afford one, an average Frenchman must pay 73% of his annual salary.
Very expensive fuel
But more than the purchase, it is the cost per use that irritates motorists.
7.7% of a French person's budget is devoted to the car.
In detail, maintenance and repairs, weighed down in particular by the soaring price of spare parts, cost 546 euros per year, insurance 579 euros and fuel… 1,745 euros!
“What crystallizes the feeling that the automobile is expensive is the price of fuel, abounds besides Flavien Neuvy.
And the recurrence increases.
“At the end of the year, with the shortage that we are currently experiencing and the surge in prices that goes with it, this item of expenditure is likely to explode.
“Perhaps this tension is also exacerbated by the fact that people know that fuel is a highly taxed product, at two-thirds”, adds the economist.
Thus, 46% of French respondents believe that it is more complicated to own a car today, compared to the time of their parents.
“However, in reality, you don't have to earn as much as before to acquire a vehicle.
But the difference is that today there are many more constrained expenses (housing, telephone, etc.), analyzes Flavien Neuvy.
So people have less money to spend on their car.
»
Electricity, a green but not pink future?
Moreover, only 10% of French people believe that owning a car is financially accessible to everyone when 73% believe that it requires financial sacrifices.
And 17% even believe that it is reserved for people who have the most means.
But what sacrifices are we talking about?
"Arbitrations, in this context, are made on the abandonment of a certain number of trips", deciphers Flavien Neuvy.
The goal: to reduce fuel consumption, a priority for the French who want to lower the bill.
French motorists also stand out from those of foreign countries by their desire to avoid, as much as possible, tolls, a French specialty.
Read also "The electric car, we go full throttle": unpublished interview between Carlos Tavares and Luca de Meo, the bosses of Stellantis and Renault
Some finally choose to do without a car and the main reasons that guide their choice are above all economic: the lack of financial means and the costs of purchase and use that are too high.
And how do they see the future?
According to the Cetelem Observatory, 57% of French motorists fear that they will no longer be able to own a car in the future.
Among the fears, the end of the sale of new thermal cars in 2035 and the priority given to electric cars, of which 7 out of 10 motorists consider the price too high.
Rightly so since the costs of the raw materials needed for batteries are exploding and most manufacturers have chosen to focus on their margins to compensate for the drop in sales volumes of new cars.
For motorists, the future will be electric… in every sense of the word.
