February 2023 Car Market: The Electrification in Progress
This page is translated from the original post "Marché auto février 2023 : l’électrification en marche" in French.
- 01/03/2023 10:15
With a surge in sales in February 2023, hybrid and electric cars support the strong performance of the automotive market in France, but not in the used car sector.
The automotive market continues its slow but steady recovery in the last month of February 2023. With registrations up 9.4%, the level still has not returned to pre-COVID-19 levels, with 126,237 cars sold.
“The current trend is positive, as vehicles ordered several months ago by customers are arriving on the market,” explains Julien Billon, general manager of AAA DATA,” but we must not lose sight of the fact that the order level is declining (-9% in January 2023). If this trend continues, the stock awaiting registration will be depleted during the first half of 2023, and the second half will, as it stands, be difficult.”
Electric surpasses hybrid
Without really faltering, gasoline remains by far the most preferred powertrain among the French, accounting for 37% of sales. But behind, the transformation is rapid, with diesel still dropping 27% compared to 2022. With less than 12% of the market, it falls behind hybrids and electric vehicles. Electric cars are booming, with +46% year over year. They total nearly 20,000 units and represent 15.5% of registrations in February 2023.
| Feb. 23 | Feb. 22 | Change | Market share | |
| Gasoline | 47,122 | 43,797 | +8% | 37.3% |
| Electric | 19,598 | 13,454 | +46% | 15.5% |
| Hybrid | 18,495 | 13,332 | +39% | 14.7% |
| Diesel | 14,717 | 20,271 | -27% | 11.7% |
| Light hybrid | 10,639 | 10,062 | +6% | 8.4% |
| Rechargeable hybrid | 10,495 | 9,685 | +8% | 8.3% |
| GPL | 4,712 | 3,297 | +43% | 3.7% |
| E85 | 459 | 1,505 | -70% | 0.4% | Hydrogen | 23 | 2 | +1050% | 0% |
Thus, only crumbs remain for the others. Micro-hybrid (or light hybrid) vehicles see a modest increase. They are on par with rechargeable hybrids, which still number nearly 10,000 units. As an alternative to expensive fuel,GPL continues its relative success, with +43% in recent times, but only 4% of sales in France. Meanwhile, E85 plunges in the new car market, down 70%, with barely 0.4% share.
Used market declines
According to AAA Data, the vehicle categories that experienced the most growth are family SUVs like Peugeot 5008 (+59%) and compact sedans such as the Renault Megane E-Tech (+32%). As for the used car market, it decreased by 6.6% in February 2023. The statistical agency explains this decline by “restrictions related to low emission zones (LEZ)”.
Evolution of new car registrations in February 2023 (AAA Data)
Also read: Automotive market January 2023: a very electrifying dynamic
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