2023 (Full Year) France: Best-Selling Car Manufacturers and Brands

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In full-year 2023, Stellantis was the largest carmaker in France while Renault, Peugeot, and Dacia were the best-selling car brands.

In full-year 2023, Stellantis was the largest carmaker in France while Renault, Peugeot, and Dacia were the best-selling car brands.
Peugeot 308 © Stellantis 2023

2023 (January to December): Stellantis was again the largest car producer in France despite lower sales by its Peugeot and Citroen brands. The Renault Group gained market share with Renault replacing Peugeot as the best-selling car brand in France. Volkswagen was the top foreign carmaker with the German VW brand outselling Toyota to regain its position as the favorite imported car brand in France. Tesla and Cupra doubled sales as the best-performing car marques in France in 2023. The French new car market in 2023 increased by 16.1% to 1,774,729 passenger vehicle registrations — the highest car sales in four yours but still well below previous levels. The Renault Clio was the top-selling model.

Latest French Car Sales Statistics — 2023: Market Overview, Brands, Models; 2022, 2021, 2020.

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in France in 2023

In 2023 (full calendar year), the top-selling carmakers in France were as follows according to the CCFA:

CarmakerSales 2023Sales 2022% 22/23
TOTAL MARKET1,774,7291,529,03516.07
STELLANTIS486,868478,0401.85
ABARTH9310–
ALFA ROMEO3,9093,09026.5
CITROEN125,932129,883-3.04
DS23,37220,95911.51
FIAT40,33636,50810.49
JEEP7,4525,72730.12
MASERATI187213-12.21
OPEL43,23736,05219.93
PEUGEOT241,512245,608-1.67
GROUPE RENAULT437,002369,43218.29
ALPINE2,6932,13825.96
DACIA156,390130,85519.51
RENAULT277,914236,40517.56
MOBILIZE534-85.29
GROUPE VOLKSWAGEN244,419195,18325.23
AUDI49,41743,68713.12
BENTLEY6597-32.99
BUGATTI12-50
CUPRA14,9457,55597.82
LAMBORGHIN12410518.1
PORSCHE3,5053,857-9.13
SEAT17,88013,68430.66
SKODA38,25728,90432.36
VOLKSWAGEN120,22597,29223.57
GROUPE B.M.W87,79471,09423.49
B.M.W.59,60145,43931.17
MINI28,18725,6499.9
ROLLS ROYCE660
GROUPE TOYOTA113,625103,5249.76
LEXUS5,6753,25674.29
TOYOTA107,950100,2687.66
GROUPE FORD51,64947,0959.67
FORD51,64947,0959.67
GROUPE NISSAN36,45027,16934.16
NISSAN36,45027,16934.16
GROUPE DAIMLER53,86049,3189.21
MERCEDES51,83647,9778.04
SMART2,0241,34150.93
GROUPE HYUNDAI98,59293,3305.64
HYUNDAI49,40047,1064.87
KIA49,19246,2246.42
GROUPE GEELY18,44116,62910.9
VOLVO14,98913,51510.91
LOTUS14516806.25
LYNK CO3,3073,09845.03
GROUPE TATA7,9265,46545.03
JAGUAR1,0081,093-7.78
LAND ROVER6,9184,37258.23
GROUPE SUZUKI21,86614,75048.24
SUZUKI21,86614,75048.24
GROUPE MITSUBISHI2,6652,4399.27
MITSUBISHI2,6652,4399.27
TESLA63,04129,199115.9
OTHERS51,46326,37095.16
Source: AAA DATA

Largest Carmakers in France in 2023

Stellantis remained the largest car manufacturer in France in 2023 despite the dismal performance by Peugeot and Citroen. The market share of Stellantis slipped from 31.3% in 2022 to 27.4% in 2023. Sales of both Peugeot and Citroen were lower in 2023 with Opel the only large Stellantis brand to outperform the broader market.

In contrast, Renault Group gained market share with both Dacia and Renault brands gaining market share. Renault became the best-selling car brand in France while the Renault Clio was the top-selling car model for the first time since 2020.

The Volkswagen Group remained the largest foreign carmaker in France in 2023 and gained market share with sales up 25%. All the larger brands increased sales volume with Cupra sales nearly doubling and both Skoda and Seat increasing sales by nearly a third.

The BMW Group outperformed with sales up nearly a quarter. BMW brand increased sales by nearly a third in France in 2023.

Sales of Toyota, Ford, and Daimler increased by nearly 10% but well below the market average. Hyundai and Geely similarly lost market share.

Tesla was the most improved carmaker in France in 2023 with sales more than doubling. The second best-performing brand was Cupra.

Best-Selling Car Brands in France in 2023 (Full Year)

The 20 top-selling car brands in France in 2023 were as follows according to the CCFA:

CarmakerSales 2023Sales 2022% 22/23
1RENAULT277,914236,40517.56
2PEUGEOT241,512245,608-1.67
3DACIA156,390130,85519.51
4CITROEN125,932129,883-3.04
5VOLKSWAGEN120,22597,29223.57
6TOYOTA107,950100,2687.66
7TESLA63,04129,199115.9
8B.M.W.59,60145,43931.17
9MERCEDES51,83647,9778.04
10FORD51,64947,0959.67
11AUDI49,41743,68713.12
12HYUNDAI49,40047,1064.87
13KIA49,19246,2246.42
14OPEL43,23736,05219.93
15FIAT40,33636,50810.49
16SKODA38,25728,90432.36
17NISSAN36,45027,16934.16
18MINI28,18725,6499.9
19DS23,37220,95911.51
20SUZUKI21,86614,75048.24
Source: AAA DATA

20 Top-Selling Car Brands in France in 2023

The combination of a strong performance by Renault and dismal sales by Peugeot allowed Renault to replace Peugeot as the largest car brand in France in 2023. Dacia was again the third-largest marque in France with sales up nearly a fifth while Citroen remained fourth with sales down by 3%.

Volkswagen increased sales by nearly a quarter to become the largest foreign brand in France in 2023 at the expense of Toyota.

New brands in the top-ten list in France in 2023 were Tesla (from 15th) and BMW (from 11th). Tesla was the best-performing brand in France in 2023 with sales more than doubling.

Mercedes-Benz slipped down from 7th and Ford from 9th to tenth. Hyundai dropped out of the top ten from eighth to 12th, and Kia from 10th to 13th.

Latest French Car Sales Statistics — 2023: Market Overview, Brands, Models; 2022, 2021, 2020.

About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance writer with over 20 years of experience in online writing. His best-selling cars website has been reporting car sales statistics since 2008 with classic car auction prices focusing on the most expensive automobiles sold at public auctions in the past decade. He also owns the travel websites European-Traveler.com and Lake Geneva Switzerland. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Finance from the University of London.