French Vehicle Market in 2023 closed with a total of 1.77 million sales, a 15.9% increase compared to last year. This trend was reflected in the month of December which totalled of 181,004 new sales, with an 14.5% growth.
Market Trend and Outlook
After having slowed down significantly in the second half of 2022 and in the first quarter of 2023, on the back of supply bottlenecks and higher energy and commodity prices, French GDP growth accelerated to 0.5% in the second quarter of the year. This was significantly more than previously expected (0.1%). The rebound was driven by net exports, while domestic demand remained sluggish. The European Commission states: “GDP is forecast to grow moderately over the rest of the forecast horizon, as domestic demand starts to recover”.
In 2023 the French Auto Market figures reached 1.77 million sales, up 15.9% from the previous year. Still maintaining a strong momentum, December 2023 grew for the 17th consecutive month, reporting 181,004 new sales and a double digit growth (+14.5%).
Looking at cumulative data from 2023, brand-wise Renault rose 1 spot into 1st with 277,903 sales (+17.5%), followed by Peugeot which lost the first spot with 240,934 (-1.9%), Dacia with 156,378 (+19.5%) and Citroen with 125,588 registrations (-3.3%).
Volkswagen with 119,883 (+23.2%) gained 1 spot falling into 5th place, followed by Toyota -down 1 spot- with 107,942 new registrations (+7.7%), in front of Tesla -up 8 spots- at 62,927 sales (+115.5%) and BMW -up 3 spots- at 59,597 registrations (+31.2%).
Mercedes -down 2 spots- fell into 9th with 51,835 units sold (+8.0%) and Ford -down 1 spot- closed the top 10 with 51,602 sales (+9.6%).
Looking at specific models the Renault Clio became the new best selling car with a 52.2% year-on-year increase in sales. The Dacia Sandero followed in second with a 7.5% rise in volume.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for all Brands, top 10 Manufacturers Group and top 10 Models.
