France: New Car Registrations Fall

New car registrations in France fell at an annualized rate of 3.2% to 1.72 million vehicles in 2024. According to PFA, the center for economic analysis of the French car industry, the figure for 2019, before the covid pandemic, was 2.2 million cars, 22% higher than for 2022.

Compared to 2023, the electric vehicle market segment remained unchanged at 16.9%.

According to French newspaper Libération, 2025 will be the year of the great electric shock for the European automotive industry: “Caught between a sluggish market and stiff competition from China,” the French newspaper said in a January 2 editorial, “manufacturers are preparing for hard times, between forced unions and the many thousands of job cuts to be feared.” The left-wing newspaper Libération speaks of a “new Darwinian era” for the automotive sector: many groups, such as Volkswagen in Germany, have already announced plans for drastic staff cuts. Companies are currently unable to make their electrification investments profitable. For this reason, the only way to save European automakers from bankruptcy is to cut costs and make numerous layoffs in the nearest future.

And in France, unions at Fonderie de Bretagne, a French company that supplies parts to Renault and other car manufacturers, have asked President Emmanuel Macron to “personally intervene to avoid the plant closure.”

“Such a possibility would be a symbol of France’s deindustrialization and of the state’s inability to win respect from large French groups,” said a letter sent to the head of state, signed by unions and some deputies. The Fonderie de Bretagne foundry in Codan employs 350 people. In 2022, the company was sold to Germany’s Callista Group, and in 2024, German fund Private Assets offered to buy the company, but Renault foundries’ main customer refuses to extend orders until 2028. The unions’ letter asks Macron to push Renault to participate in the “Made in France” program.

On the other side of the curtain, Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer BYD (Build Your Dreams) reported sales growth in 2024, strengthening its position in the electric vehicle market and its presence internationally. According to a press release issued by the Chinese company, BYD sold 4,272,145 vehicles in 2024, up 41.3% from the 3,024,417 electric vehicles sold in 2023. In December 2024 alone, the company sold 57,154 vehicles outside of China, an increase of 58.3% compared to the same month last year. Hybrid models accounted for the majority of BYD’s sales in 2024, accounting for 58% of vehicles sold. For the first time in the third quarter of 2024, BYD’s quarterly turnover exceeded that of US Tesla, owned by Elon Musk.