France July 2026: BEVs up 126.7% to 35% share, Renault Scenic E-Tech and Twingo E-Tech in Top 10

The Renault Scenic is up to #6 in France in July.

17/08 update: Now with Top 55 All brands and Top 300 models.

It’s an encouraging third consecutive month of year-on-year gains for French new car sales, at +9% to 126,808. This way, the year-to-date volume is up 2.6% to 983,974. Petrol sales implode -44.2% year-on-year to 13,903 and 11% share vs. 21.4% in June 2025, diesel is off -59.7% to 2,750 and 2.2% share vs. 5.9% a year ago, HEV registrations (including mild hybrids) edge down -0.2% to 53,078 and 41.9% share vs. 45.7% last year, PHEVs drop -10.6% to 7,527 and 5.9% share vs. 7.2% in June 2025. But the big story of the month is elsewhere. The BEV segment is the only one growing year-on-year and single-handedly pulls the entire market into positive for the month. Sales of electric cars indeed surge 126.7% to 44,378 and a record 35% share vs. 16.8% a year ago. Year-to-date, BEV sales are up 70% to 285,943 and 29.1% share vs. 17.5% over the same period in 2025.

First Top 10 finish for the Renault Twingo E-Tech.

No surprise atop the brands charts: Renault (+21.9%) leads the way with 15.6% share, vastly outpacing its home market’s growth rate. Peugeot (+6.7%) is a lot shyer yet in positive at #2 with 13.4% share. Dacia (-10.9%) confirms it is having a difficult year, the company openly admitting the root cause being Chinese competition. Citroen (+17.3%) is very solid at #4 and 7.5% share, distancing Toyota (+11%) at 6.9% share and Volkswagen (-1.5%) at 5.8%. Skoda (+6.7%) is up two spots on last month to #8 while Kia (+4.9%) is up five to #9, its first Top 10 finish in exactly two years: since July 2024 (#8). BYD climbs 267% year-on-year to #13, with Tesla (+85.8%), Fiat (+53.5%) and MG (+40.9%) also displaying fantastic health. Newcomer Jaecoo is up to a record #21 with 1.4% of the market, only a few months after launching in France.

The Renault 5 is the carmaker’s best-seller at home in July.

Over in the models ranking, the Peugeot 208 (+22.8%) takes advantage of a shaky generation transition by the Renault Clio (-29.9%). Adding the 5th and 6th generations brings the Clio nameplate to a paltry 6th place overall. If the outgoing Clio V (-81.5%) logically freefalls to #35 vs. #8 last month, the new Clio VI very much disappoints again in July, falling to #8 with just 2.1% share, its lowest since February. Long wait time before registration and the ramping up of production in Turkiye may explain this result somewhat. In any case this is the worst start of a new generation Clio, possibly ever. Meanwhile the Dacia Sandero (+3%) stays in 2nd place above the Citroen C3 (+21.9%) up three spots to #3. The Renault 5 (+86.6%) is also up three ranks to a fantastic 4th place (the brand’s best-seller at home), and having stayed in France for the past month I can confirm that they are everywhere already.

Record ranking for the Citroen C3 Aircross II at #7.

Below the Peugeot 2008 (-1.3%), the Renault Scenic E-Tech (+262.4%) surges 11 spots on June to land at a record 6th place, this generation’s first Top 10 finish (previous best #13 last November). The Citroen C3 Aircross II (+262.4%) is also in outstanding shape and breaks its ranking record at #7 (previous best #8 last October). Potentially the event of the month is the Renault Twingo E-Tech breaking into the Top 10 for the first time at #9. The neo retro little “frog” seems destined to a similar success level as the R5 which is great news for Renault. This also means Renault monopolises the BEV podium with the R5, Scenic and Twingo all outselling the Tesla Model Y (+145.3%) at #12 overall for the month. BEVs account for 47% of all Renault sales in July. Below, the Skoda Elroq (+117.3%) slips into the Top 20 for the first time at #20 while the Jaecoo 5 (#40) and 7 (#46) both break into the Top 50 at the same time.

Previous month: France June 2026: BEVs up to 29.6%, Renault Clio VI still not #1, Twingo IV up to #15

One year ago: France July 2025: Registrations off -7.7%, Dacia Bigster breaks into Top 10

Full July 2026 Top 55 brands and Top 300 models below.