Passenger auto sales in France fell by 88.8% year on year in April. Though, the second half of the month did show signs of recovery. Plug-in electric vehicles took 7.8% market share, with favorite models being the Renault Zoe, Peugeot e-208, and Tesla Model 3.
With the overall French market crumbling (-72% year over year!) due to the coronavirus lockdown, and the country returning to registrations levels (62,668 units) not seen in the past 50 years, one would think that plug-ins would suffer too, right? The answer to that is “yes” and “no.”
France saw a remarkable 11.7% market share for plug-in electric vehicles in March, exceeding January’s breakout result, and bringing the Q1 2020 tally to 9.7%. This is almost 4× growth in market share compared to Q1 2019 (2.6%).
France, a market of over 2 million annual auto sales, saw plug-in passenger vehicle market share of 7.95% in February, following January’s record 11% share. Pure electrics (BEVs) took 5.6% of the market, and plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) 2.3%. The year-to-date EV market share stands at 9.3%.
January saw fossil fuel passenger vehicle sales plummet in Sweden by almost 40% year on year, with diesels more than halved, as plug-in vehicle market share climbed to over 30%. Sweden’s auto industry organization expects 30% to be maintained through the full year of 2020.
Europe’s largest auto market, Germany, saw January fossil fuel vehicle sales drop by over 15% year-on-year, with gasoline vehicles alone down over 17%. Meanwhile, EVs increased their market share to 6.5% from 2.5%. Europe’s big five markets are now at a combined 6.0% EV market share. What progress will full year 2020 bring overall?
Norway, the undisputed global leader in the EV transition, hit 64.4% EV market share in January, with over 44% share for pure electrics and 20% for plug-in hybrids. This best-ever-January result was achieved before 2020 shipments of the top selling Tesla Model 3 have even arrived in the country, with the Audi e-tron (902 units) and Renault Zoe (533 units) seeing the highest January volumes.
France, the world’s 8th largest auto market, just hit 11% electric vehicle market share in January, a year-on-year growth of 4×. Meanwhile, diesel and gasoline vehicle sales crashed by ~25% year on year.
