France February 2022: Market down -13%, Tesla (+204.9%) inside Top 10, Citroen C3 up to #2

The Citroen C3 is up to a rare 2nd place at home.

24/05/22 update: Now with Top 150 models.

New car sales in France endure a 7th consecutive month of year-on-year decline in February at -13% to 115.386 units. The drop widens to -31% when comparing with pre-pandemic February 2020. Over the first two months of the year the market fall is now -15.7% to 218,285 sales. Petrol sales drop -24.5% to hold a 37.9% share while diesel crumbles -38.7% to 17.6% share. HEV sales (including PHEV) are up 7% to 28% and BEV surges 59.7% to 11.7% share.

Peugeot (-27.7%) falls twice as fast as the market but retains the brands top spot with 16.8% share vs. 18.2% so far this year. Renault (-13.8%) resists better but still loses share to a historically low 14%. Citroen (-14.1%) evolves similarly to 10.4% share. All-in-all, the three top French brands only hold 41.2% of their home market this month vs. 43% in 2021 and 47.2% in 2020. In contrast, Dacia (-7.2%) gains share to year-on-year to 7.7% as does Volkswagen (-6.6%) at #5 and 6.4% share, overtaking Toyota (-20.3%). Ford (-20.8%) gains two spots on January to #7 but skids down year-on-year. Hyundai (+7.9%) lodges the first Top 10 gain but it’s Tesla (+204.9%) that is the most impressive, climbing to a best-ever #9 (also hit in August 2021) and leading all premium brands including BMW (-11.5%) at #10, Mercedes (-18.3%) at #12 and Audi (-11.3%) at #13. MG (+275.5%), Lamborghini (+150%), Honda (+36.8%), Ferrari (+33.3%), Mini (+21.6%), Porsche (+20.7%) and Fiat (+7.1%) are among the additional gainers further down.

Model-wise, the Peugeot 208 (-20%) takes a hit but remains at the top while the Citroen C3 (-8.3%) climbs two spots on January to land at #2, its highest ranking since October 2019 which was the time of the generation changeovers for the 208 and Clio. The C3 is now also #2 year-to-date. For its part, the Renault Clio (-12.7%) matches the market but drops to #3, it’s better than the 5th place it held one year ago. The Peugeot 2008 (-37.5%) falls hard as does the Dacia Sandero (-38.8%), ranking #4 and #6 respectively. In contrast, the Peugeot 3008 (-4.4%) resists well at #5, while the Dacia Duster (+24.1%) and most impressively the Tesla Model 3 (+133%) – the #1 foreigner – post the biggest gains in the Top 10. A Top 10 where the Peugeot 308 III stays for the 2nd straight month despite falling two ranks on January to #10. Among other recent launches, the Renault Arkana is down three spots to #12, the Toyota Yaris Cross drops two to #13, the Tesla Model Y leaps up to #36 and the Dacia Jogger is up to #42.

Previous month: France January 2022: First Top 10 for Peugeot 308 III, market down -18.6%

One year ago: France February 2021: Dacia, Toyota headline market accelerating its fall to -20.9%

Full February 2022 Top 50 All-brands and Top 150 models below.