According to provisional data and forecasts from NGC-Data®, on December 30, the French automotive market should end the 2021 financial year with a very slight increase of 0.5% (1.66 million units), very close to 2020 therefore and above all very far from expectations. For the first time, Peugeot got ahead of Renault.
The highlights of the 2021 market:
- Peugeot dethrones Renault at the top of sales
- Peugeot 208 n ° 1 on the market for the 2e consecutive year
- Dacia, champion of sales to individuals
- Dacia Sandero, the favorite car of individuals
- Tesla progresses by + 258%, Model 3 overtakes Renault Zoé
- Strong growth in single hybrids
- Electric represents 10% of sales
The causes are not identical but in the end the balance sheet is just as starved. With only 1.660 million new cars registered in 2021, according to provisional data from NGC-Data® (as of December 30), the automotive market should register a modest increase of 0.5% compared to 2020 (1.650 million). It was therefore not much for the 2021 financial year to do less well than the previous one, which, let us remember, had fallen to a historically low level (we had to go back to 1975 to find any trace of an even smaller market. low). While a sharp rebound was inevitably expected after the sad year 2020 – research firms and manufacturers were counting on a market of between 1.8 and 1.9 million cars in 2021 – this market took a turn for the worse at the start of the second half of the year.
The threat of the health situation has never completely dissipated, while the upheavals linked to the shortage of electronic chips, which had started to worry some manufacturers at the end of January, have finally only worsened over time. months. Manufacturers started adjusting their production lines in early summer, or even to close their factories for a few weeks, and the supply of cars available at dealerships has shrunk, resulting in extended lead times on most models. Mechanically, the new market fell while that of used cars has continued to grow, to the point of concluding the 2021 financial year with a record.
“The IHS Markit firm anticipates a passenger car market of 1.786 million registrations in 2022“
The imagined jump was however clearly perceptible at the end of May: + 50.1% compared to 2020. A month later, the increase was only 28.9%. At the beginning of July, the manufacturers drew up a mixed assessment of the first half, deploring a sluggish individual channel, and the second only confirmed their fears. The comparison with the 2019 financial year is scary: – 25% and a loss of around 554,000 new cars. According to the IHS Markit firm, the French automobile market may never pass the 2 million registration mark (2,214 in 2019). At this stage, the latter anticipates a passenger car market of 1.786 million registrations in 2022..
Peugeot dethrones Renault
For the first time in its history, the Peugeot brand has overtaken Renault and climbed to the top of the podium in 2021, with a market share of 17.2%. This has significantly decreased compared to 2020 (18.3%) but is at the same level as in 2019 (17.1%). The lion brand, which had already initiated the merger in recent years, has held its rank by surfing in particular on the success of the 208 (best-selling car in 2021), 2008 (No. 1 in SUVs) and 3008 (No. 1 compact SUVs). It mainly benefited from the collapse of Renault, which lost 2.9 points. Its market share, which exceeded 20% in 2016 (20.2%), fell to 16.2% in 2021 (against 19.1% in 2020; 18.4% in 2019).
TO READ. History! Peugeot dethrones Renault on the French market
Presented last January, the Renaulution strategic plan, aimed at prioritizing profitability over volume, achieved its objective in the second part. In France, the diamond brand lost around 46,000 units in 2021 compared to 2020 and nearly 140,000 compared to 2019. “We courageously continue our Renaulution, which involves the creation of value”, analyzed Ivan Segal, director of sales for Renault France, in October. It should be noted that the three French generalist brands, Peugeot, Renault and Citroën (to a lesser extent), have shown a drop in their registrations. compared to 2020. Ford, Nissan and Opel have also declined and conceded market share this year.
Dacia, the champion of France for individuals
Conversely, Tesla, whose sales have exploded (+ 258%), but also Dacia, Hyundai, Kia and Toyota are the big “winners” of 2021. Tesla (+ 255%) and Hyundai (+ 13%) are the only two brands to have registered more cars in 2021 than in 2019. The Romanian manufacturer is the French champion in personal sales and the Sandero, the car the most no longer sold on this distribution channel. Note that a second model, the Duster, is also in the top 10 sales.
Top 5 sales to individuals (by brand as of 12/30/21)
- Dacia: 103,672 registrations
- Renault: 98,470
- Peugeot: 91 990
- Citroën: 53 977
- Toyota: 52,639
The hybrid: alternative to gasoline and diesel
With its Model 3 (13e best-selling car in France this year, + 284.5%), Tesla has surfed on the growth in registrations of electric cars, whose market share is now around 10% (9.8% precisely at the end of December). Sales of gasoline and diesel models (61% of the market in 2021 cumulatively) continued to decline at the expense of electrified engines (hybrids, plug-in hybrids and 100% electric). Among them, the single hybrid is preferred by buyers followed by the electric and the rechargeable hybrid.
NGC-Data® has specialized since 2010 in the interactive processing of automotive data. It collects, enriches and processes data from various sources, including in particular, under license from the Ministry of the Interior, data from the Vehicle Registration System (SIV); it makes them coherent and assembles them into different products and services. Its main clients are insurers, banks, financers, manufacturers, automobile distribution and repair groups, and also the largest used vehicle ad sites.
