France September 2025: BEVs at 22.3% share, Renault 4 (finally) inside Top 50

The Renault 4 is finally in the French Top 50, but we can’t call it a success just yet.

07/10 update: Now with Top 324 All models ranking.

It’s a second consecutive month of year-on-year gains in France at +1% to 140,354 units. But there’s a couple of buts. As it was the case for August, the year-ago comparison base was low at -11.1% on the year prior. There is also one opening day more than September 2024 which means the market is actually down on a daily ratio (-3.6%). In any case, the year-to-date tally remains in frank negative at -6.2% to 1,186,785. Encouragingly and the sign of a healthy market, private sales are up 7% to 50% share whereas fleet sales drop -7% despite BEVs up 44% in that channel. 64% of private sales happen through leasing vs. 62% in August.

Petrol sales freefall -25.3% to 26,934 and 19.2% share vs. 25.9% in September 2024, diesel falls -21.7% to 6,311 and 4.5% share vs. 5.8% a year ago, HEVs soar 16.7% to 62,039 and 44.2% share vs. 38.2% last year and PHEVs drop -9.5% to 9,118 and 6.5% share vs. 7.3% a year ago. Finally BEVs surge 10.9% to 31,349 and 22.3% share vs. 20.3%. According to AAA Data, this is the highest BEV share ever in France. Over the first 8 months of the year, petrol is down -32.8% to 265,023 and 22.3% share vs. 31.1% over the same period in 2024, diesel is off -38.5% to 58,906 and 5% share vs. 7.6% last year, HEV is up 28.7% to 531,166 and 44.8% share vs. 32.6% and PHEV is down -26.8% to 72,537 and 6.1% share vs. 7.8%. BEV sales are now stable at -0.3% to 216,622 and 18.3% share vs. 17.2% in 2024.

MG goes from strength to strength and ranks #12 in September.

Both Renault (-1.6%) and Peugeot (-2.5%) can’t capitalise on the positive market and find themselves slightly below their YTD levels at 16.8% share vs. 17.3% and 13.4% vs. 14.3% respectively. Dacia (+23.7%) in contrast is on an absolute roll YoY but keep in mind its year-ago sales were off -31.4% on the year prior, so this is mainly a catching up on lost time. Citroen (+10.6%) is back up to #4 ahead of Volkswagen (-18%) and Toyota (-11.2%) both in great difficulty. At #7, Tesla (+2.7%) edges up on a traditionally strong end-of-quarter month but is still down -31.7% year-to-date at #16. Skoda (+9.9%) is solid and ranks at a highest ever #8, a position it holds for the 6th time, all in the past 12 months. Audi (+21.5%) for once is the #1 German premium brand above Mercedes (-0.8%) and BMW (-18%). MG gains 83.7% to #12, Cupra (+41.9%), Mini (+21%) and Nissan (+17.6%) also shine below while BYD is up 239.9%.

Looking at the models ranking, the Renault Clio V (+0.9%) edges up YoY but has to settle with 6.1% share vs. 6.4% year-to-date. Meanwhile the Peugeot 208 (-6.5%) continues to crater but is back up to #2 above the Dacia Sandero (+8.1%). The Citroen C3 IV (+35.1%) is up to #4 both for the month and year-to-date. The Elon Musk negative impact on Tesla sales is wearing off, as evidenced by the 5th place of the Tesla Model Y (+5.5%) this month, the nameplate’s highest ranking in France this year. The Peugeot 2008 (-0.6%), 3008 III (-1.8%) and Renault Captur (-14.7%) follow but all suffer. The Dacia Duster III (+2.1%) and Peugeot 308 (+10.3%) round out the Top 10. Both the Renault 5 (+130.4%) and Symbioz (+136.6%) improve their ranking on last month to #12 and #13 respectively. The Dacia Bigster (#16) and Citroen C3 Aircross II (#17) are the most popular recent launches while two other newcomers break into the Top 50: the Renault 4 (#43) and Fiat Grande Panda (#44). This does not mean they are successful as we expect much higher scores for both models.

Previous month: France August 2025: Hyundai (+31%), Citroen (+30.8%) highlight first positive market of the year

One year ago: France September 2024: Sales down a concerning -11.1%

Full September 2025 Top 55 All brands and Top 324 All models below.