A total of 1,529,035 new passenger cars were put on the road last year, compared to 1,659,003 in 2021.
The French car market declined by 7.83% in 2022. The recovery of recent months has not made it possible to compensate for global delivery difficulties and shortages of electronic chips, according to data published on Sunday by the automotive platform (PFA), which represents manufacturers and equipment manufacturers.
A total of 1,529,035 new cars were put into circulation last year, compared to 1,659,003 in 2021. In 2019, just before the pandemic that marked a significant drag on the sector, according to the PFA, 2.2 million vehicles.
After a disastrous 2020, with car dealerships closed and a sluggish economy, the market didn’t recover the following year. In 2022 it finally relapsed, despite four months of increases in the second half.
A one-third drop in volume since 2019
“We are structurally in a market that has decreased by a third in volume since 2019, due to a succession of crises,” said François Roudier, communications manager of the PFA.
To these crises “they add up”, he explained, listing “the problem of the availability of electronic components, the difficulties of delivering the vehicles due to lack of drivers, which were accentuated with the war in Ukraine, the increase in the cost of materials too expensive and fuel”.
“In this context of declining volumes, François Roudier underlines, the major equipment manufacturers, who have the capacity to invest, have bet on the top of the range and on electricity”. They bet on a consumer who is sensitive to the sharp increase in the price of fuel at the pump and government aid for the purchase of vehicles with low greenhouse gas emissions.
The share of electric cars is growing
In 2022, all-electric cars passed the 200,000-unit mark, 25 percent more than a year earlier, while the number of plug-in hybrids fell by about 10 percent, to 126,549 units, according to PFA. This decline in hybrids is due in particular to the reduction in corporate purchases.
The share of electric cars continues to grow, reaching 13% of total registrations in 2022, up from 10% last year and just 1% four years earlier.
An increase achieved above all at the expense of diesel engines, which represent less than 16% of registrations in 2022, down by more than 5 points compared to the previous year, and to a lesser extent petrol, which remains the category most chosen by new car buyers with 37% of the market.
Sharp decline in the second-hand market
“The crisis has affected all manufacturers, who renew their fleet less, which also affects the second-hand market, which is unable to meet the demand,” according to François Roudier.
The used car market, which took off in 2021, is also down sharply by 13% with 5.26 million units, according to provisional data from the company NGC Data published by Argus.
“Manufacturers have dramatically reduced the number of demo vehicles, while road starts have dropped sharply among short-term rental companies,” with volume of used vehicles less than a year old down 33% and 25% for those less than two years old, L’Argo points out.
Stellantis leads, despite declining enrollments
The podium of the year does not vary: Stellantis, the result of the merger of PSA (Peugeot, Citroën, DS and Opel) and FCA (Fiat, Jeep, Alfa Romeo…), remains in first place over 2022 together with 31% of the market of passenger cars, despite registrations decreasing by 14.7% on an annual basis.
Its rival, the Renault group, held up better, with a market share of 24%, and a drop in units sold of 6.6% compared to 2021. Registrations of the Romanian brand Dacia continue to grow (+4.5% ), while those of Renault dropped by 12%.
Peugeot (Stellantis), which passed the diamond brand last year, maintains its leadership with a 16% market share, against 15.5% for the Renault brand.
The first foreign group, Volkswagen, saw its registrations drop slightly in 2022, but the German giant’s market share remained unchanged at almost 13%.