After a long increase, the number of cars in Île-de-France decreases

The phenomenon also affects the capital and its metropolitan area.

According to a study conducted by the Paris Urban Planning Agency (or Apur), the car fleet in Île-de-France decreased in 2020. This is the first decline since 2012.

With 8,561 fewer vehicles, the drop is relatively small, but it seems to confirm an underlying trend in Île-de-France. After a peak in 2014 (+90,868 cars), the growth in the number of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles registered in the region gradually slowed over the years. In 2019, the increase was limited to +6,878 cars.

Fewer cars in the Metropolitan Area as well

The situation is also improving in Greater Paris. Certainly, the study shows that the number of passenger cars and light commercial vehicles has generally increased since 2012, but it also highlights that the trend has reversed since 2018, with an average of 6,800 fewer vehicles per year. “The registered fleet of cars and light utility vehicles in the Metropolitan Area follows a bell-shaped trend between 2012 and 2021: it increased sharply until 2014-2015, less so between 2015 and 2018, then decreased from 2018 onward”, explains the Apur in its report.

The decline observed at the metropolitan and regional level has been happening in Paris for a longer time. In the capital, the car fleet has been decreasing since 2012, with an average of 3,400 fewer vehicles each year. The phenomenon has intensified in recent years, reaching up to 6,000 fewer vehicles per year on average.

The tightening of technical inspections as a possible explanation

The authors of the study believe that the tightening of technical inspection regulations can partly explain this phenomenon. Motorists forced to give up their cars due to excessive pollution may not have systematically replaced them with a new vehicle. It is also possible that the lockdown and the semiconductor crisis, which slowed down new car sales, have amplified the trend.

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