France April 2022: Market down -22.6%, Peugeot 308 III on the podium, Ford Puma in the Top 10

The Peugeot 308 brand is on the French podium for the first time in more than 5 years. Photo largus.fr

Update 24/05: Now with the first 150 models

Note that the articles for November 2021, December 2021, full year 2021, January 2022, February 2022 and March 2022 have also been updated with a Top 150 models.

Update 11/05: Now with the Top 55 All Brands.

New car sales in France slipped for the 11th consecutive month in April, accelerating their decline to -22.6% and 108,723 registrations. Excluding the pandemic month of April 2020 (20,997 sales), this is the lowest April volume in 57 years: Since April 1965’s 106,311 units… Comparing to pre-pandemic April 2019 (188,199), the market is down -42.2%. Year-to-date volume is now down -18.6% to 474,083. Private sales hold 46% of the market in April versus 45.5% YTD at 215,368 units (-13%). Gasoline sales are down 33.5% to 40,732 units and 37.5% market share, diesel is down 48.1% to 17,156 units and 15.8% market share, but HEV is up 18.7% to 22,490 units and 20.7% market share. BEVs are also up 32.7 percent to 12,692 units and 11.7 percent market share, but PHEVs are down 8.2 percent to 10,234 units and 9.4 percent market share.

Peugeot (-32.3%) scored its 6th victory in the last 7 months and cemented its YTD leadership despite falling much faster than the market at 16.3% share. Indeed, the top three French automakers are all losing share year-over-year with Renault (-31.7%) at 13.7%, its lowest since July 2021, and Citroen (-33.9%) at 8.6%, its lowest for the year. Conversely, Dacia (+6.5%) delivered the only year-on-year increase in the Top 6 and ended the month just 0.7 points behind Citroën. It is ahead of Volkswagen (-31.2%) and Toyota (-20.4%). Ford (+10.9%) and Kia (+9.1%) are the other two gainers in the rest of the Top 10, while BMW (-18.6) moves up four spots from March to 9th and Hyundai (-8.4%) moves up two spots to 10th. Below them, Nissan (+47.8%), DS (+1%), Cupra (+162%), Mitsubishi (+158%), Alpine (+158.9%) and Alfa Romeo (+196%) all show market defying increases.

The Ford Puma enters the French Top 10 for the first time in March.

In the model rankings, the Peugeot 208 (-20.4%) easily retains first place with a 5.4% market share compared to 5.9% since the beginning of the year. The Citroën C3 (-19.9%) is back in second place for the second time in the last three months, a position it has also held since the beginning of the year. The Peugeot 308 III gains three spots compared to March and reaches the podium for the first time for this generation and the first time since February 2017 for the 308 brand. The Dacia Sandero (-16.8%) falls two places to 4th place ahead of the Renault Captur (-14.6%) which remains in 5th place. The Peugeot 2008 (-55.6%) collapses compared to last year but gains three places compared to last month to be #6 in front of the Peugeot 3008 (-55.3%) also in great difficulty. The Fiat 500 (+32.8%) goes completely against the market and climbs 6 places to reach the 8th place in the general ranking and the 1st foreign model. This means that the Fiat 500 sells better in France than in Italy, both in terms of volume and share. But where is the Renault Clio? It is down 68.3% on the previous year and is in a barely believable 9th place, which is by far the worst ranking ever recorded by the brand in France. Inventory problems could be the cause of this particularly disastrous month. The Ford Puma (+69.7%) enters the French Top 10 for the first time in 10th place and becomes the best-selling foreign car since the beginning of the year in 12th place.

Previous month: France March 2022: The market plunges -19.5%, Dacia (+31.4%) resists and places Sandero in 2nd position.

One year ago: France April 2021: Renault Clio V back in the lead, Hyundai (+19.8%) impresses, sales down -25.4% compared to two years ago.

The Top 55 all makes and the Top 150 models of April 2022 are available below.

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