France reported a slight 9% increase in its new passenger car registrations to 111,940 compared to a year ago.
Remarkably, sales of plug-in electric cars quickly rise to the country’s highest January ever despite recording significantly lower passenger car registrations than in the past years.
Plug-in car sales in France – January 2023
L’Avere-France’s data revealed that the country had about 27,003 new plug-in vehicle registrations, representing a year-on-year growth of 41.5%. Of that total, 24,930 were contributed by passenger plug-in cars, which saw a YoY growth of 37%.
Interestingly, the market share of plug-in passenger cars also increased to 22.3% from just 17.6% in 2022.
In addition, battery electric vehicles reported a YoY growth of 43% to 14,619 new car registrations. Meanwhile, plug-in hybrid vehicles enjoyed a YoY increase of 30% to 10,301.
Below are the registrations data for January provided by L’Avere-France:
| Category | Registrations & Changes | Market Share |
| Passenger BEVs | 14,629, up 43% | 13.1% |
| Passenger PHEVs | 10,301, up 30% | 9.2% |
| Light commercial BEVs | 2,051, up 131% | 7.7% |
| Light commercial PHEVs | 22, down 55% | – |
| Total plug-ins | 27,003, up 41.5% | – |
Plug-in car sales in France – 2022
In hindsight, France reported over 346,000 new plug-in car registrations in 2022, representing a 10% YoY increase from just 315,000 a year ago.
| Category | Registrations & Changes | Market Share |
| Passenger BEVs | 202,929, up 25% | 13.3% |
| Passenger PHEVs | 126,547, down 10% | 8.3% |
| Light commercial BEVs | 16,810, up 39% | |
| Light commercial PHEVs | 563, up 2% | |
| Total plug-ins | 346,849, up 10% |
Top EV models in France – January 2023
The Dacia Spring dominated the plug-in car market in France, with 1,911 new registrations in January. The Fiat 500-e (1,598) and Renault Megane E-Tech (1,506) followed it with just about a few hundred differences.
Peugeot e-208 completed the top five with 1,336 new registrations and MG 4 with 686.
Notably, the fifth placer MG 4 is SAIC’s latest model, indicating that Chinese EVs are penetrating the European market.
On the other hand, American EV giant Tesla’s Model Y landed 9th place with just 424 units. It indicates a significant decline compared to December’s record of 2,493 registrations.
Below are the top 10 bestselling models in France in January:
| Ranking | Models | Registrations |
| 1 | Dacia Spring | 1,911 |
| 2 | Fiat 500 electric | 1,598 |
| 3 | Renault Megane E-Tech | 1,506 |
| 4 | Peugeot e-208 | 1,336 |
| 5 | MG 4 | 686 |
| 6 | Renault Zoe | 646 |
| 7 | Renault Twingo Z.E. | 543 |
| 8 | Peugeot e-2008 | 441 |
| 9 | Tesla Model Y | 424 |
| 10 | Hyundai Kona Electric | 282 |
