France Hits New Record: 20% Of Market Buys Electric Cars In September 2023

Add in PHEVs and plug-in cars make up 30% of France's market share.

Tesla Model Y

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Oct 14, 2023 at 10:29am ET

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New passenger car registrations in France increased in September by nine percent year-over-year to 153,916, taking the year-to-date total to 1,286,247 (up 16 percent year-over-year).

The market has been expanding every month this year (recovering slightly from the 2020-2022 collapse) and also is becoming more and more electrifying thanks to increasing plug-in electric car sales.

According to L’Avere-France, last month 45,872 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in France (35 percent more than a year ago), which represented almost 30 percent of the market. That's a new record share for rechargeable cars and a noticeable jump compared to just over 24 percent a year ago.

What's even more impressive is that passenger all-electric car registrations increased to over 30,000 (up 34 percent year-over-year), taking a record share of 19.6 percent of the market. That's basically one in five new cars sold.

Plug-in hybrids are also growing (up 35% year-over-year), and with 15,699 units sold, accounted for 10.2 percent of the market (a near record value).

Plug-in car registrations last month (YOY change):

Passenger BEVs: 30,173 (up 34%) and 19.6% market share
Passenger PHEVs: 15,699 (up 35%) and 10.2% market share
Total passenger plug-ins: 45,872 (up 35%) and 29.8% market share
Light commercial BEVs: 2,297 (up 35%) and 7% market share
Light commercial PHEVs: 33 (down 6%)
Total plug-ins: 48,202 (up 35%)

Plug-in car sales in France – September 2023

So far this year, more than 341,000 new plug-in electric vehicles have been registered in France, including over 321,000 passenger plug-in cars (25 percent of the market).

Plug-in car registrations year-to-date (YOY change):

Passenger BEVs: 204,616 (up 45%) and 15.9% market share
Passenger PHEVs: 116,446 (up 31%) and 9.1% market share
Total passenger plug-ins: 321,062 (up 40%) and 25% market share
Light commercial BEVs: 20,292 (up 111%)
Light commercial PHEVs: 281 (down 38%)
Total plug-ins: 341,635 (up 43%)

For reference, in 2022, more than 346,000 new plug-in electric vehicles were registered in France (including almost 330,000 passenger cars, which was 21.5 percent of the market).

We can already tell that the year 2023 will be very positive for electrification in France, with a potential to reach 450,000 units or so.

*some data on the charts are estimated

Models

In terms of individual models, the Tesla Model Y again was the most registered BEV with 5,035 new registrations in September. This spectacular result enabled the Model Y to become the fifth best-selling model in the country last month (Tesla, as a brand, was seventh).

The other best-selling models are usually small city cars - Peugeot e-208 (3,924), Dacia Spring (2,514), Fiat 500 electric (2,296), and MG4 (1,945). Meanwhile, the best-selling electric Renault - the Megane-e - was outside the top five BEVs, which reveals to us how much has changed since the Renault Zoe times.

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After the first nine months of the year, the top three BEVs are the Tesla Model Y (27,458), Dacia Spring (21,103), and Peugeot e-208 (19,074), slightly ahead of the Fiat 500 electric (17,441).

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