The French automobile market enjoyed a notable increase in new passenger car registrations in May 2023, with new passenger plug-in electric cars accounting for a big chunk of that pie. As per stats published by the L’Avere-France, new passenger car sales/registrations in France increased by 15 per cent year-over-year to settle at 145,538 units last month. Nearly 35,300 of them were new passenger plug-in electric cars. This figure represents a jump of 33 per cent year-over-year, with more than 24 per cent of the market.

Sales of all-electric cars (BEVs) increased even faster to reach more than 22,600 units and expand its market share beyond 15 per cent.

To be more specific, a total of 22,667 units of passenger BEVs were registered in France last in May this year, up 49 per cent from the corresponding month of last year. Market share of BEVs jumped to 15.6 per cent.

When it comes to passenger PHEVs, 12,657 units were sold in the country last month, up 12 per cent year-over-year. This sub-segment accounted for 8.7 per cent of the market.

Total Passenger plug-in registrations settled at 35,324 units, up 33 per cent at 24.3 per cent of market share. Light commercial BEV and PHEV registrations were recorded at 2,320 units (up 123 per cent year-over-year) and 18 units (down 76 per cent year-over-year), respectively. In total, 37,662 units of plug-ins were registered in the country last month, up 36 per cent.

Total registrations of passenger cars year-to-date (from 1st of January through 31st of May) jumped 37per cent to 175,419 units. The grand total includes 104,639 units of passenger BEVs (up 47 per cent at 15 per cent market share), 60,055 units of passenger PHEVs (up 18 per cent at 8.6 per cent market share), 10,578 units of light commercial BEVs (up 103 per cent), and 147 units of light commercial PHEVs (down 52 per cent).

When it comes to models, the world-famous Tesla Model Y grabbed the top spot with 2,709 units sold last month. It was followed by the Fiat 500 electric (2,601), the Peugeot e-208 (1,914) and Dacia Spring (1,897), at the second, third and fourth positions, respectively.

For reference, slightly more than 346,000 units of new plug-in electric cars were registered in France during twelve month of 2022, compared to approx. 315,000 units in the year of 2021.