French passenger car market continued to expand last month, thanks in particular to strong sales of plug-in cars amid the country’s transition from gas-guzzling ICE-powered engines to environment-friendly electric powertrains.

In March 2023, new passenger car sales or registrations in the Western European country increased 24 per cent year-over-year to 182,713 units, which took the Q1 total to 420,890 units, up 15.2 per cent year-over-year.

However, the most encouraging result came from the plug-in electric car segment, which expanded at a bigger rate. According to published data, some 48,707 new plug-in vehicles were registered in the country last month, up 48 per cent from the corresponding month of 2022.

Last month’s total number of new plug-in vehicle registrations includes 46,357 passenger plug-in cars (up 47 per cent year-over-year). This figure accounts for 25.4 per cent of the market, considerably up from 21.4 per cent from the same month of 2022.

In short, all the figures (including plug-in vehicle registrations and market share) reached record levels, thanks to record-high BEV sales. Registrations of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) also grew at an impressive rate.

New registrations of fully-electric passenger cars grew more than ever before to settle at 30,635 units, which allowed this sub-segment to grab more than 16 per cent of the market.

More precisely, last month’s new plug-in vehicle registrations included 30,635 units of passenger BEVs (up 54 per cent) at 16.8 per cent of the market. Passenger PHEV registrations grew 34 per cent to 15,722 units, accounting for 8.6 per cent of market share. Light commercial BEV registrations grew 76 per cent to 2,318 units, grabbing 6.6 per cent of the market. On the other hand, registrations of light commercial PHEVs slipped 46 per cent to settle at 32 units. Thus, total plug-in registrations grew 48 per cent year-over-year to settle at 48,707 units.

Year-to-date (YTD), the French market registered more than 107,000 new plug-in electric vehicles. The figure, which included over 101,000 passenger plug-in cars, represents a year-over-year growth of 41 per cent. More specifically, 64,859 passenger BEVs (up 49 per cent), 36,516 passenger PHEVs, 6,064 light commercial BEVs and 91 light commercial PHEVs were registered (up 25 per cent) in the first three months of this year. YTD total plug-in vehicle registrations grew 41 per cent to 107,530 units.

For reference, more than 346,000 new plug-in electric vehicles were registered in France in the twelve months through December 31, 2022.