PSA remained the strongest car manufacturer in France in 2013 while Renault is the best-selling brand and Volkswagen the most popular foreign marque.
In 2013, PSA (Peugeot & Citroen) remained the top-selling car manufacturer in France, followed by the Renault and Volkswagen groups. Renault was the best-selling car brand in France followed by Peugeot and Citroen. The most popular foreign car brands in France in 2013 were Volkswagen, Ford, and Toyota. The French car market shrank by 5.7% in 2013 with Dacia and Fiat the only two brands with significant growth. The Renault Clio was again the best-selling car model in France in 2013.
The French Car Market in 2013
New passenger vehicle registrations in France in 2013 fell by 5.7% to 1,790,473 cars (1,898,760 in 2013). The total vehicle market in France contracted by 5.5% to 2,157,804 vehicles.
New passenger car sales in France have been negative for the past four years. However, the market has shown some growth in recent months with sales increasing by more than 9% in December with a positive fourth quarter for the first time since 2009.
Top-Selling Car Manufacturers in France in 2013 (Full Year)
The best-selling carmakers and brands in France for the full year 2013 were as follows according to car sales statistics released by the CCFA:
| Â | Full Year (January to December) | ||||
| Â | Â 2013 | Â % Share | % Change | 2012 | 2011 |
| Total Market | Â 1’790’473 | Â 100.0 | -5.7 | 1’898’872 | 2’204’229 |
| French | Â 956’276 | Â 53.4 | -4.2 | 998’021 | 1’238’274 |
| Imported | Â 834’197 | Â 46.6 | -7.4 | 900’851 | 965’955 |
| Â | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
| Manufacturers: | Â | Â | Â | Â | Â |
| PSA | Â 527’914 | Â 29.5 | -7.7 | 571’906 | 692’837 |
| Peugeot | Â 289’593 | Â 16.2 | -5.2 | 305’464 | 369’761 |
| Citroen | Â 238’321 | Â 13.3 | -10.6 | 266’442 | 323’076 |
| RENAULT Group | Â 427’455 | Â 23.9 | 0.8 | 424’147 | 544’685 |
| Renault | Â 337’611 | Â 18.9 | -1.7 | 343’355 | 455’705 |
| Dacia | Â 89’844 | Â 5.0 | 11.2 | 80’792 | 88’980 |
| VW Group | Â 242’048 | Â 13.5 | -8.1 | 263’285 | 277’506 |
| Volkswagen | Â 141’428 | Â 7.9 | -8.4 | 154’446 | 163’584 |
| Audi | Â 59’147 | Â 3.3 | -4.2 | 61’756 | 58’970 |
| Seat | Â 22’039 | Â 1.2 | -8.9 | 24’181 | 33’268 |
| Skoda | Â 19’341 | Â 1.1 | -13.9 | 22’465 | 21’185 |
| GM Group | Â 81’159 | Â 4.5 | -15.8 | 96’441 | 117’669 |
| Opel | Â 59’620 | Â 3.3 | -16.8 | 71’667 | 94’102 |
| Chevrolet | Â 21’518 | Â 1.2 | -13 | 24’747 | 23’708 |
| FORD | Â 76’470 | Â 4.7 | -17.3 | 92’477 | 115’357 |
| TOYOTA Group | Â 74’692 | Â 4.2 | 5.5 | 70’817 | 70’409 |
| BMW Group | Â 65’854 | Â 3.7 | -5.3 | 69’564 | 68’027 |
| BMW | Â 46’473 | Â 2.6 | -2.7 | 48’057 | 46’305 |
| Mini | Â 19’099 | Â 1.1 | -11.1 | 21’485 | 21’702 |
| NISSAN Group | Â 63’180 | Â 3.5 | -9.9 | 70’134 | 72’212 |
| FIAT Group | Â 60’926 | Â 3.4 | 2.4 | 59’519 | 77’970 |
| Fiat | Â 47’683 | Â 2.7 | 9.5 | 43’555 | 57’326 |
| HYUNDAI Group | Â 59’242 | Â 3.3 | -4.1 | 61’752 | 48’165 |
| Kia | Â 33’504 | Â 1.9 | 1.5 | 33’019 | 27’961 |
| Hyundai | Â 25’738 | Â 1.4 | -10.4 | 28’733 | 20’204 |
| MERCEDES Group | Â 52’233 | Â 2.9 | -1.5 | 53’012 | 50’357 |
| Mercedes-Benz | Â 46’966 | Â 2.6 | -1.3 | 47’569 | 43’545 |
| Source: CCVA / Figures exclude “others” | |||||
Best-Selling Car Brands in France in 2013 (Full Year)
There were no changes at the top of the rankings of best-selling car manufacturers and brands in France in 2013. PSA remained the strongest carmaker in France although both Peugeot and Citroen continue to bleed market share.
The Renault Group in contrast showed positive growth with Renault outperforming the broader market and Dacia showing the strongest growth of any large manufacturer in France in 2013. Renault remained the best-selling brand in France in 2013.
Sales by Foreign Car Makes in France in 2013 (Full Year)
Foreign carmakers and brands generally underperformed the broader passenger vehicle market in France in 2013. Volkswagen, Europe’s largest car manufacturer, and best-selling car brand, led the market down with both the VW Group and brand seeing sales down by more than 8%
The European arms of US auto giants GM and Ford both had drastically lower sales in France in 2013. The GM Group remained the strongest foreign car manufacturer after Volkswagen but Opel slipped behind Toyota and Nissan. Ford sales were overtaken by Dacia.
Toyota had positive growth but fellow Japanese manufacturer Nissan saw sales strongly down allowing BMW to gain a position in France. A very strong improvement by Fiat saw the group overtaking Hyundai, which has a bad year in France in 2013 despite positive figures for Kia.
Mercedes-Benz branded sales strongly outperformed the broader market despite uncertainty mid-year when the French vehicle registration authorities refused to register some new Mercedes models due to a dispute over the safety of air-conditioning gas. German premium manufacturers Mercedes, BMW, and Audi all outperformed the overall market in France in 2013.
The Renault Clio was again the most popular car model in France – see Best-Selling Car Models in France in 2013 for the top-20 list.
