For the sixth consecutive month, the French automobile market remained on a downward trend in November.

Manufacturers registered 121,995 cars over the month, against 126,047 in November 2020, a decrease of 3.21% over one year.

In November 2019, before the pandemic, that number stood at 172,731, according to figures released on Wednesday by the Automotive Platform (PFA).

“We've never seen a month of November like this.

The figures are very low and we compare ourselves to a month of November 2020 when the concessions remained almost closed for 15 days, ”underlines François Roudier, of the PFA.

If the start of 2021 was better than the beginning of 2020, paralyzed by the Covid-19 pandemic, sales have been weak again since June.

The entry-level sacrificed in favor of the high-end and electrics

Up slightly by 2.53% over one year, with 1.5 million vehicles sold (i.e. -25% compared to the same period in 2019), the market remains hit by the semiconductor crisis.

"All entry-level vehicles, which make volume, are sacrificed for the benefit of high-end and electric", emphasizes François Roudier.

Hybrid sales have almost doubled in one year and now represent 25.6% of the market, behind gasoline (40.6%) but ahead of Diesel (21.5%) and electric (9.3%) .

The gloom does not affect Tesla, Ferrari or Jaguar-Land Rover: the small segment of luxury models shows growth of 77% over one year, according to AAAData.

Record year for the occasion

As for used cars, the market "seems to be off to a good start for a record year", underlines the firm AAAData, with a gain of 9.2% over eleven months and already 5.5 million transactions.

It was notably driven in November by an acceleration in demand for models less than five years old.

The leader Stellantis saw its sales fall by 30.50% compared to the first eleven months of 2019, with 510,640 vehicles sold.

Its market share fell slightly to 34%, with poor scores for its Fiat and Opel brands in particular.

Its competitor Renault posted a decrease of 28.21%, with a market share also slightly down, to 23.7%, despite good sales at Dacia.

Uncertainties with the Omicron variant

The Peugeot 208 remains the best-selling car of the year, just ahead of the Renault Clio, Peugeot 2008 and Dacia Sandero.

The Volkswagen group is resisting better with sales of -20.52% and a market share up slightly to 13.46%.

Toyota (6.20% market share) and BMW (4.25%) limit damage, while Hyundai-Kia is the only group to see its sales increase since 2019, with 5.43% market share.

The PFA estimates that annual sales should be in 2021 "around 1.7 million vehicles".

Will the industry do slightly better than in its catastrophic year 2020?

"It will depend on the settings of trade and industry, not to mention the Covid factor, with the new variant," says François Roudier.

Economy

The pitfalls to avoid when buying a used car

Economy

Automotive: The French market "is not starting again" and the year promises to be difficult

  • Electric car

  • Sale

  • Hybrid cars

  • Car

  • Automotive

  • Economy

  • 0 comment

  • 0 share

    • Share on Messenger

    • Share on Facebook

    • Share on twitter

    • Share on Flipboard

    • Share on Pinterest

    • Share on Linkedin

    • Send by Mail

  • To safeguard

  • A fault ?

  • To print