France: Plug-In Car Sales Reached New Record In March 2023

The Tesla Model Y surged to fourth place overall with a record volume.

By: Mark Kane

Apr 19, 2023 at 8:00am ET

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New passenger car registrations in France increased in March by 24 percent year-over-year to 182,713, taking the Q1 total to 420,890 (up 15.2 year-over-year).

However, the most important is what is happening in the plug-in electric car segment, which is clearly booming right now.

According to L’Avere-France, last month some 48,707 new plug-in vehicles were registered in France (up 48 percent year-over-year), including 46,357 passenger plug-in cars (up 47 percent), which represented 25.4 percent of the market (vs. 21.4 percent a year ago).

All of the numbers - plug-in vehicle registrations and market share - are record highs thanks to record-high all-electric car sales (plug-in hybrids were also pretty strong).

Passenger all-electric cars noted 30,635 new registrations - more than ever before, which allowed them to capture 16.8 percent of the market.

New plug-in vehicle registrations:

Passenger BEVs: 30,635 (up 54%) at 16.8% market share
Passenger PHEVs: 15,722 (up 34%) at 8.6% market share
Light commercial BEVs: 2,318 (up 76%) at 6.6% market share
Light commercial PHEVs: 32 (down 46%)
Total plug-ins: 48,707 (up 48%)

Plug-in car sales in France – March 2023

So far this year, more than 107,000 new plug-in electric vehicles were registered in France (up 41 percent year-over-year), including over 101,000 passenger plug-in cars (up 39 percent year-over-year and 24.1 percent market share).

Registrations year-to-date:

Passenger BEVs: 64,859 (up 49%) at 15.4% market share
Passenger PHEVs: 36,516 (up 25%) at 8.7% market share
Light commercial BEVs: 6,064 (up 90%)
Light commercial PHEVs: 91 (down 49%)
Total plug-ins: 107,530 (up 41%)

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For reference, in 2022, more than 346,000 new plug-in electric cars were registered in France, compared to over 315,000 in 2021.

*some data on the charts are estimated

Models

One of the reasons why plug-in car sales surged so much in France is Tesla. Specifically, the Tesla Model Y, which with 6,455 new registrations was the fourth best-selling model in March. That number totally eclipses the previous record of 2,891 from November 2022.

The other best-selling BEVs were: Dacia Spring (3,481), Peugeot e-208 (3,256), Fiat 500 electric (2,021), Tesla Model 3 (2,008), and Renault Megane E-Tech (1,885).

So far this year, the top three BEVs in France (counting only passenger car registrations) are the Tesla Model Y (9,364), Dacia Spring (8,264), and Peugeot e-208 (6,684).

Detailed numbers of plug-in car registrations are provided by L’Avere-France: