France October 2023: Market up 21.9% but still down 20% on pre-pandemic

The Ferrari Purosangue has landed in the French charts.

The French new car market is up by a robust 21.9% year-on-year in October to 152,383 units. But although this is a great result, for some context we are still roughly 20% below the pre-pandemic score of October 2019 (188,985). The year-to-date tally is now up 16.5% to 1,441,008, 21% below the 10 months volume of 2019 (1,830,352). Petrol sales advance 17.3% year-on-year to 54,045, diesel sales sink -29.4% to 11,890, HEVs surge 40% to 40,492, PHEVs gain 34.4% to 14,930 and EVs soar 51.1% to  25,473 and 16.7% share vs. 13.5% in October 2022. Year-to-date, petrol sales are up 15.4% to 536,086, diesel is down -28.8% to 141,760, HEVs are up 28.9% to 344,102, PHEVs up 31.8% to 131,353 and EVs up 45.9% to 230,088  and 16% share vs. 12.8% a year ago over 10 months of 2022.

In the brands ranking, Renault is up a sturdy 29.2% to hold 15.6% of the market, very close to its year-to-date level of 16%. Peugeot (+1%) is very shy in contrast and has to do with 2nd place again whereas it topped the charts for the first time over the Full Year 2022. Dacia (+33.2%) signs the largest gain in the Top 12 and consolidates its third place. Citroen (+19.2%) for once manages a double-digit year-on-year gain but remains 4th with 8% of its home market. Toyota (-1%) suffers from a particularly high year-ago score when it ranked at a record #3 overall, but still overtakes Volkswagen (+7.6%) to rank #5. BMW (+32.3%) and Ford (+24.3%) are also in great shape in the remainder of the Top 10. Below, Cupra (+157.2%), Jeep (+102.9%), MG (+92.6%), Suzuki (+90.6%), Skoda (+87.8%) and Tesla (+82.2%) are among the best performers.

Model-wise, the Renault Clio (+84.9%) has a firm grip on the charts unlike last year when production delays plagued its volumes. It now holds an almost 5,000 sales advantage of the 2nd, its archenemy the Peugeot 208 down a horrendous -26.1% this month. The Dacia Sandero (-2.1%) also can’t capitalise on the market growth but remains in the third place it holds year-to-date, as does the Citroen C3 (+21.6%) at #4 and the Peugeot 2008 (+9.5%) at #5. The Peugeot 308 (+36.4%) is back up four spots on September to #6, outselling a weak Renault Captur (+0.2%). The Renault Arkana (-1.7%) is up 7 ranks on last month to a strong 8th place while the Dacia Spring (+498.4%) multiplies its year-ago volume by 6 to land in 9th position, its first Top 10 finish since last February (#8).

The Peugeot 3008 (+36.7%) is back in shape and above its main competitor the Renault Austral (+867.7%) both for the month and year-to-date. The Fiat 500 (+19%) is the best-selling foreigner at #12 with the Dacia Jogger (+99.1%) and Ford Puma (+97.8%) also in great shape. The MG 4 (+608.7%) lodges its third Top 20 finish in a row just as the Tesla Model Y (+243.3%) falls from #5 in September to #21 this month but still surges year-on-year. We have a few newcomers this month: the Kia EV9 at #183, the Mitsubishi Colt at #245, the Mercedes CLE at #261, the BYD Seal at #268, Ferrari Purosangue at #290 and Ford Bronco at #310.

Previous month: France September 2023: Peugeot 208 keeps Renault Clio at bay in market slowing down its growth

One year ago: France October 2022: Toyota outsells Citroen and Dacia for the first time, market up 5.4%

Full October 2023 Top 57 All brands and Top XXX All models below.