Spring is off to a good start for the French new car market.
In March, new registrations jumped 24.2% to 182,713.
Over the first quarter as a whole, the increase reached 15.2%.
Figures communicated by the Automotive Platform (PFA), which brings together both manufacturers and equipment manufacturers.
This is the eighth consecutive month of increase, which makes it possible to speak of a regained momentum, even though the thresholds before the pandemic - between 210,000 and 220,000 new registrations - are still far away.
“
Deliveries have started again and we have a little less shortage of electronic chips
,” François Roudier, head of communication for the PFA, told AFP.
“
March is traditionally a good month.
We continue to climb the slope, but we are still far from the level before the pandemic
, ”he detailed.
For this month of March, growth is driven by both Peugeot sales (+35% compared to March 2022, to 29,158 units) and the Renault brand (+30%, to 27,175 units).
Dacia, of the Renault group, continues to progress, although less strongly than in February, at 19.4%, with 15,186 units.
On the group side, Volkswagen recorded a sharp increase with 24,294 cars sold (+22%).
The Stellantis group (Citroën, Peugeot, Fiat), which weighs 31% of the French market by volume ahead of the Renault group (23%), continues to suffer from logistics problems, but saw its deliveries increase slightly over three months ( +5.6%).
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Continued rise of electric cars
Alongside these commercial results, the other lesson lies in the continued rise of electric cars.
They now cover 17% of the passenger car market, four points more than last year at the same time.
For their part, hybrids and plug-in hybrids accounted for 32% of sales, and gasoline cars 39%.
Conversely, diesel continues to decline: -6% for registrations, to represent only 11% of passenger cars.
The rise of electric vehicles is helping to modify the traditional hierarchy of manufacturers: Chinese brands are constantly progressing, like MG, whose registrations jumped 161% in March, with 1,471 units.
The brand is now on the heels of Fiat (2,022 registrations, +29%) in fifth position.
In this electric segment, Tesla remains in the lead with 8,710 registrations, up 80%, followed by Peugeot, Renault and Dacia.
“
The technological choice of electric motorization upsets the established order among manufacturers both nationally and globally.
With the arrival of Chinese brands on the French market, the market shares of incumbent manufacturers are likely to be fiercely contested
,” analyzes Julien Billon, CEO of AAA DATA.
