The French automobile market fell by 0.3% in November year-on-year, confirming a gloomy 2025 against a backdrop of consumer wait-and-see, while electric cars for the first time exceeded a quarter of registrations.
In total, 132,927 new passenger cars were put into circulation on the roads last month, a level equivalent to that of November 2022, the Automotive Platform (PFA) said on Monday in its monthly delivery of statistics.
The French automobile market, which has never recovered from the health crisis, is evolving 23% below its level of November 2019, underlined a spokesperson for the PFA, which represents automobile manufacturers and equipment suppliers in France.
Over the first 11 months of the year, registrations contracted by 4.9% compared to the same period of 2024.
The spokesperson noted, among the factors explaining the market depression, a wait-and-see attitude among consumers and businesses, due to “political and economic uncertainties”, in particular the vagueness on the future of the 2026 finance bill in Parliament.
Electrics dominate a quarter of the market
For their part, 100% electric cars confirmed their success in November, conquering 26% of the market, an unprecedented monthly level attributed by the PFA spokesperson to the success of “social leasing”, rental with the option to purchase electric vehicles for low-income households with state aid, relaunched in October for a limited contingent of customers.
This system “has been quite positive for sales of zero-emission vehicles”, in addition to the obligation imposed on companies to integrate at least 20% of such vehicles into their fleets, according to the same source.
This dynamism has allowed electric cars to capture one in five French registrations since the start of the year, again a record level after the 17% over all of 2023 and 2024.
However, it is hybrid cars (fuel-electricity), including rechargeable ones, which reign on the market, with 50.4% of registrations since January, an increase of 8.6 points over one year. Gasoline cars experienced an opposite trajectory, falling to 21.6% from 30.2% a year earlier.
Diesel, the old favorite engine of the French, has only represented one in 20 registrations since the start of 2025, ten years after “dieselgate”, a scandal of rigged polluting emissions of which Volkswagen was at the origin.
Debate on the 2035 horizon
The penetration of the French market by electric vehicles comes while the debate rages in Europe on the ban on the sale of thermal cars by 2035. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz recently announced that he would ask the European Commission to review its copy, while his country’s automobile industry is lagging behind in electric technology in the face of a conquering China.
It is on December 10 that the Commission plans to announce measures to relieve the automotive sector and help it in its transition to decarbonization.
The Stellantis group (Fiat, Peugeot, Citroën, Opel, Jeep, etc.) welcomes “the support provided by the German government for the review of European regulations”, indicated its CEO Antonio Filosa.
“Today we have an excellent opportunity to rethink the rules and reconcile Europe’s three key objectives: decarbonization, industrial resilience that protects jobs and strategic autonomy, and financial accessibility,” he added.
In France, Stellantis saw its registrations fall by 5.5% year-on-year in November, according to figures from the PFA on Monday. The group holds a 23% market share, behind its rival Renault (including Dacia) which reigns at 26.6% thanks to an increase of 4% on the back of the development of its electric range, in particular the R5.
Over 11 months, the two groups are neck and neck, with the diamond company outperforming its rival by 0.2 points, at 26.7%. Stellantis has seen its registrations fall by 8% since the start of the year, contrasting with Renault’s 2.6% increase.
Since the start of the year, the R5 has been the best-selling electric car in France and is in ninth place in the general ranking, led by the Renault Clio, the Peugeot 208 and the Dacia Sandero.