The automotive sector is struggling all over the world -
Sarah ALCALAY
Without calling into question the recovery started since the deconfinement in May, the French automotive market fell back into the red in August, falling 19.8% due to technical factors, after two months of slight increase, the manufacturers announced. Tuesday.
Thanks to the success of its new models, PSA (Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel) did significantly better than average, falling by only 8.4%.
While Renault (with Dacia and Alpine) fell 20%, according to figures published by the Committee of French automakers (CCFA).
Deliveries in free fall during containment
In August, just over 103,600 new passenger cars were put on the roads of France.
Over the first eight months of the year, registrations reached some 998,000 units, down 32% from last year.
The market is slowly recovering from the spring collapse linked to the health crisis.
With an auto trade paralyzed by containment, deliveries collapsed 72% in March, 88.8% in April, then another 50.3% in May.
They then recovered by 1.2% in June and 3.9% in July.
A support plan for the sector
For François Roudier, spokesperson for the CCFA, the poor performance of August is mainly due to an unfavorable comparison effect, the figures for the same month in 2018 and 2019 having been artificially inflated by regulatory changes in the 1st September.
"We find this year a normal month of August", he commented, and "the orders for September are good, the third quarter will be good".
Sales are driven in particular by hybrid and electric models, favored by the strengthening of government aid as part of the sector support plan.
French manufacturers better off than their foreign colleagues
François Roudier indicated that the CCFA maintained a market forecast of -30% for the whole of 2020, if the current situation stabilizes, or at -25% or even -20%, in the event of improvement. more marked.
In August, French manufacturers (-13.3%) suffered less than their foreign competitors (-26.3%).
The Volkswagen group, the leading importer in France, has notably fallen by 35%.
Within PSA, Peugeot did particularly well, with a drop in deliveries limited to -3.5%, the brand benefiting from the success of its new models, the 2008 city cars and SUVs. the diamond brand fell 24.3%, despite the new Clio, while Dacia held up better (-6.4%).
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