France 1947: Citroen Traction Avant & Renault Juvaquatre on top

Renault Juvaquatre (pre-war model shown)

* See the Top 24 best-selling models and Top 23 brands by clicking on the title! *

In 1947 like in 1946, the large majority of vehicles produced in France were exported, as French consumers simply did not have the means (yet) to purchase a new vehicle. As a result the French new car market is not very dynamic at 62,366 registrations (-8%) of which only 12,105 are private cars (+107%) and 46,968 trucks (-21%). This situation would change drastically from 1948 onwards. There were 8.626 vehicles imported into France, a figure that would slow down drastically in the next couple of years, including just 3.084 private cars. They come from the USA (3.503 including 2003 cars), Canada (3.263 and 10), the UK (1.140 and 495), Germany (416 and 368) and Benelux (54 and 39), and an additional 250 incl. 169 uncategorised.

Simca 8

1947 is the first year a ranking by models is made possible by data published on French newspaper L’Argus. At the time, ‘deliveries’ were divided between metropolitan clients, French overseas territories (aka colonies) and exports. The data itself is not exactly split by model but by fiscal power, which in actual fact describes a single model in most cases.

At this little game and only taking into account Private Cars (“Voitures Particulières”), the Citroen Traction Avant (11 CV) is the winner both with deliveries in France (2,417) and overall (22,305). Add in the (slim) sales figures of the 15 CV variant and its domination is even clearer. In 2nd place we find the Renault Juvaquatre (6 CV) at 2,202 deliveries in France and 17,798 overall, while the Peugeot 202 (6 CV) rounds up the podium at 1,770 and 12,610 deliveries respectively. The Simca 8 is also successful, ranking 4th in overall deliveries. Note the 6th place of the Renault 4 CV in metropolitan France, slowly ramping up at 584 sales.

Delahaye 135 M

In the manufacturer production ranking, Renault is in the lead with 43,317 units (+54%) ahead of Citroen (+19%), Peugeot (+91%) and Simca (+43%) overtaking the French subsidiary of Ford (+24%) while prestigious lost names like Hotchkiss (#7), Panhard (#8) and Delahaye Delage (#9) all find a way into the annual Top 10, although mainly thanks to lesser-known trucks. Citroen however keeps the pole position in the private car production charts thanks to 22,879 units (+81%) above Renault at 18,966 (+123%) and Peugeot really ramping up at 12,955, a six-fold improvement on its 1946 score… Finally, note Peugeot unveiled the 203 in 1947 which would end up breaking sales records for the brand but won’t appear in the stats until 1948.

Full Year 1947 Top 24 models and Top 23 brands Ranking Tables below.