The recovery continues in the French car market. According to figures published by the Automotive Platform (PFA), new passenger car registrations increased by 21.9% in April compared to the same month of the previous year, with the Dacia and Renault brands among the most popular.
During the first 4 months of the year, car manufacturers registered 553,396 new registrations, an increase of 16.7%. The numbers are rising, but the market is not as strong as it was before the pandemic.
Dacia and Renault remain popular
On the brand side, Dacia and Renault are boosting sales with respective increases of 63.4% and 50.7% for the month of April. Overall, Renault group sales increased by more than 50% during the month.
Stellantis, another industry giant, posted a more modest increase in its new registrations of 5.7% in one year. Its Citroën and Peugeot brands post increases of 10.6% and 6.1% respectively, while its Fiat and Jeep brands show significant decreases in new registrations.
“We found the figures for 2021”
“It is positive, we are beginning to deliver vehicles more or less normally. […] We found the figures for 2021”, said François Roudier, spokesman for the Automotive Platform at the microphone of BFM Business to start on a positive note.
However, he goes on to point out that “when we compare ourselves to pre-Covid, we are still 30% below what an April should have been.”
François Roudier also doubts that the French car market can return to pre-COVID-19 levels due to problems with semiconductor manufacturing and deliveries, but also a decline in the supply of basic vehicles.
+15% for electricity
Electric vehicles represented 13% of sales in April and 15% in the first 4 months of the year. Including hybrid vehicles, the increase is 21% in April.
“Currently we have a price war that is really driven by Tesla, but not by the rest of the industry,” says François Roudier of the competition in the electricity market.
Source: BFM TV
