New car registrations fell 22.6% in April (NGC-Data® data). The three French brands were among the hardest hit. Over four months, the French automobile market fell by 18.6%, to 474,115 units.
While industry professionals were hoping for a start of improvement in the second quarter of 2022, the situation is only getting worse from month to month. In April, according to data from the firm NGC-Data®, the French automobile market fell to 108,733 new car registrations, a drop of 22.6% compared to the same month last year. This is, for example, 80,000 units less than the volume recorded in April 2019. This is the eleventh consecutive monthly decline since June 2021. Above all, the market suffered in April its largest decline of the 2022 financial year, posting a loss of nearly 40,000 units compared to March 2022. ” The main reason still lies in the difficulties of production and supply of electronic chips which limit the delivery capacities of manufacturers and lengthen delivery times. Added to this is the Ukrainian crisis and economic uncertainties, which obviously do not encourage the purchase of a new vehicle. »raises NGC-Data®.
TO READ. Automotive market. Registrations fall by 19.5% in March 2022
Car registrations by month in 2022
- January: 102,901 (–18.6%)
- February: 115,383 (–13%)
- March: 147,098 (–19.5%)
- April: 108,733 (–22.6%)
Peugeot, Citroën and Renault are losing ground
The three main French manufacturers are the big losers of this fourth month. At Stellantis, the registrations of Peugeot and Citroen fell 32.3% and 33.9% respectively. The lion brand posted a market share of 16.3% in April (16.7% cumulatively) while that of Citroën fell to 8.6% (9.7% over 4 months). Renault did little better, posting a drop of 31.7% and recording a penetration of 13.7% (14.3%). Volkswagen (-31.2%), Opel (-32.6%) and Mini (-43.4%) suffered this month. From 4,850 registrations in March 2022, and a 9and place in the hexagonal market, Tesla fell to 97 units in April, falling to the 34and square.
Among the brands on the rise, let us mention the performance of Dacia (+6.5%) and Kia (+9.1%) or the recovery of Ford (+10.9%) and especially Nissan (+47.8%). %), the latter recording strong growth with companies and long-term rental companies (+63.5%). MG Motor (+1042%) and Cupra (+169%) margins continue to conquer French customers.
TO READ. All indicators of the French automotive market in April 2022
A pitfall compared to 2019
In the first four months, the French automotive market shows a fall of 18.6% compared to the same period last year, totaling 474,115 registrations. Another comparison, 741,530 new cars had passed over four months in 2019, then 385,676 the following year, in full containment. The car market is therefore still sick. French generalist brands are among the most weakened patients. Over four months, they represent a cumulative share of 40.7% of the French automotive market, compared to 43% in 2021, 47.2% in 2020 and around 46% between 2016 and 2019. Peugeot in particular lost 2.7 points market share in one year.
“While Stellantis is the group that has sold the most vehicles in total at the end of April 2022, with 157,386 units, its market share is down sharply to 33.2%, against 35.9% a year earlier (i.e. a loss of almost 3 points)analyzes the firm NGC-Data®. Who benefited from this drop? To the Hyundai group, first of all, whose market share increased by 1.35 points to reach 6.3% at the end of April, and then to Renault. The French group gains 0.23 points, to 22.3% market share”.
A few rare brands manage to switch to green at the end of April: Tesla (+ 43%), Kia (+ 5.2%), Hyundai (+ 2.9%), Honda (+18.3%), Mitsubishi (+38.7%) as well as those recently launched, MG (+446.4%) and Cupra (+107.7%).
