France At 18.8% Plugin EV Share in June, Tesla Model 3 Hits Record Volume
France saw plugin electric vehicle market share reach 18.8% in June 2021, more than double the 9.0% share of June 2020. Old-school (non-electric-assist) combustion powertrains hit their lowest point in the modern era, at under 60% share, from over 80% a year ago. The Tesla Model 3 broke its personal-best monthly volume in France with 5001 units sold in June.
June’s combined plugin EV share of 18.8% consisted of 10.5% full battery electrics (BEVs) and 8.3% plugin hybrids (PHEVs), a shift towards BEV from recent weightings. Year-to-date (and H1) cumulative plugin share now stands at 15.6%, up from 9.10% cumulative share at this point in 2020.
Non-electrified combustion powertrains (petrol and Diesel) combined stood at 59.7% share in June 2021, significantly lower than the 80.9% in June 2020, with diesel at 20.5% and petrol at 39.2%.
Note that BEVs experienced a modest but noticeable pull forward effect in June, ahead of a €1000 trimming of the ecological bonus from July onwards, applying across the board for all plugins. This amounts to a 15-20% cut in the bonus for BEVS priced under €45,000 and a 33% cut for BEVs over €45,000.
BEV share grew from May’s 8.2% to 10.5% in June – and a new record monthly volume of 20,862 unit sales. BEVs will likely cool off again in July when the cut takes effect, but then settle to a normal growth trend through the rest of the year.
PHEV incentives are also transitioning down in July (from €2,000 to €1,000), but no strong pull forward effects were apparent in June.
Popular BEV Models In France
As usual, we don’t yet have all BEV model sales data from the French market, only data for dedicated BEV models. Of these, the Tesla Model 3 sold 5,001 units in June, a personal best, though still below the Renault ZOE’s all time monthly record of 5,978 units (December 2020). In June 2021, the ZOE managed 3,349 units, its strongest showing of the year so far.
Since there’s still a month-on-month growth of ~5,600 BEV sales (over May’s total) not attributable to the Zoe or the Tesla, logic would suggest that the other high volume regular, the Peugeot e-208, may have challenged the ZOE for 2nd place in June. We just don’t have the market official data to confirm that yet, keep an eye out for Jose’s report later in the month.
As a reminder, here’s the recent top 10 most popular BEVs in France this year (note: up to the end of May only):
Likely the Tesla Model 3 will retain the top spot for 2021 H1 overall, but the #2 position could be occupied by either the Renault ZOE or Peugeot e-208.
The only other data we yet have for dedicated BEV models for June is that the Volkswagen ID.3 delivered a decent 722 units, almost twice its volume in May. Expect all the other popular BEV models in the chart above to have had near record volumes in June, consonant with the month’s new high of 20,862 overall sales.
As mentioned above, due to the July changes to the incentive system, we shouldn’t expect to see normal seasonal growth for plugin EV share in July’s results, it will likely be somewhat flat. August and September however should again be knocking on the door of 20% share and we’ll see much higher shares towards the end of the year.
What do you think? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.
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