December saw France’s plugin electric vehicles grow to take 25.0% share of the auto market, up fractionally from 24.4% a year ago. Full electrics grew at a decent rate, but plugin hybrids fell. Overall auto volumes for the month were flat year on year, but full year 2022 volumes were down almost 8% on 2021. The Dacia Spring was December’s bestselling BEV.
The bigger picture is that France remains under-supplied with BEVs, and the same is true across Europe as whole. Different national markets may get priority at different times. Rarely do growth rates accurately reflect consumer preferences, since overall supplies remain limited.from the pool of BEV supply in November and December, to boost sales ahead of vehicle tax increases in 2023. So, whilst France was allocated 45,290 BEV units across November and December, Norway received 49,628.
The new MG4 took 10th place, in only its 3rd month of volume deliveries. Expect it to climb higher still in the coming months. The Volkswagen ID.3 also had a relatively strong December, over 3x its recent monthly volumes.