The car market strongly rebound in France, from the collapse last year caused by the lockdown. The overall volume at over 140,000 is relatively good, but not yet as high as in previous years (nearly 190,000). With a high number of remote jobs and more challenging economy, demand for cars is simply lower than before.
In April, some 21,690 new plug-in cars were registered, over 12-times more than in April 2020.
Passenger plug-ins (20,832) account for about 14.8% of the car market, which is a lot. With more and more plug-ins on the horizon, we might see 20% at some point later this year.
Plug-in hybrids are selling slightly better than all-electric cars this year in France:
- Passenger BEVs: 9,560 - up 685% at 6.8% market share
- Passenger PHEVs: 11,272 - up 2,512% at 8.0% market share
- Light commercial BEVs: 858 - up 767%
- Total plug-ins: 21,690 - up 1,143%
Plug-in car sales in France – April 2021
So far this year, the plug-in segment increased 122% year-over-year to almost 86,500 and passenger plug-in hybrids are above all-electric cars.
Sales year-to-date:
- Passenger BEVs: 40,048 - up 48%
- Passenger PHEVs: 42,734 - up 330%
- Light commercial BEVs: 3,679 - up 94%
- Total plug-ins: 86,461 - up 122%
*some data on the charts are estimated
Models
In April, the top-selling all-electric cars were the Peugeot e-208 (1,537), Renault ZOE (1,265), Fiat 500 electric (740), Renault Twingo Z.E. (679) and MINI Cooper SE (592), which shows that small EVs are in the highest demand.
The Tesla Model 3 (209) was "resting" last month, after a major surge in March, but it's still one of the top-selling models YTD (#2 at less than 100 units behind Peugeot e-208).
The Volkswagen ID.3 and ID.4 noted respectively 391 and 372 new registrations.
On the plug-in hybrid front, the Peugeot 3008 PHEV stands out with 1,726 units in April (it's also the third most popular plug-in YTD).
Top five year-to-date:
- Peugeot e-208 - 6,034
- Tesla Model 3 - 5,972
- Peugeot 3008 PHEV - 5,814
- Renault ZOE - 4,871
- Renault Captur PHEV - 3,316
Detailed numbers of plug-in car registrations provided by L’Avere-France:
More sales reports
Sources: L’Avere-France, EV Sales Blog