The 10 highlights of the automotive market in January 2023: confirm the recovery!

As of the end of 2022, the market is experiencing a further increase in registrations with a volume of 111,939 units, up 8.8% in January 2023. Vehicle deliveries seem to be increasing. But there is no question of falling into euphoria, the market is still far from its pre-crisis levels where volumes are more like around 155,000 new cars, as in 2019 for example.

A great start for…

As in 2022, Dacia has started 2023 with 11,538 registrations in January (+54.4%) compared to 7,475 last year. The Renault brand also got the year off to a relatively good start with monthly sales up 9.2% (17,097 units). Thus, the diamond group sees its market share increase from 22.6% to 25.6%. The Volkswagen group seems to be starting to deliver its portfolio with a growth of 27.2% for VW, +19.8% for Audi, +25.3% for Skoda or +25.2% for Porsche. Nissan with +34.9%, Toyota with +20.6%, Fiat with +31.8% but also Volvo (+43.8%), Tesla (+1,443.8%), DS (+35.2%), Alfa Romeo (240.3%), Land Rover (+171.4%) or BMW (+24.2%) were among the month’s winners.

Stalls on startup

Overall, Stellantis struggled in January 2023 with registrations down 9.5% for the month. Its market share fell by nearly six points in the month, falling from 36.3% to 30.2%. Citroën continues the same trajectory in 2022 with -22.6% (8,205 units). The chevron brand even appeared in the Top 5 VP. Already 4th behind Dacia at the end of 2022, it was overtaken by Toyota (8,671) and Volkswagen (8,249) in January 2023. Peugeot is also slipping with monthly volume down 13.6% (17,684 units). Mini starts the year with difficulty at -36.5%, like Lexus (-27.6%) or Suzuki (-19.5%).

Individuals with almost 50% of the market

With 49.1% of registrations in January 2023, the private channel was favored in transmissions, close to pre-crisis levels (49.8% in January 2019). This customer base totaled 55,018 units, an increase of 13.7%. But all brands do not show the same level of distribution, far from it. Dacia tops the list of retail sales with a share of 83.7% (9,661 vehicles out of a total of 11,538).

Among the brands that sell the most gray cards in this customer segment, there is also, and this time a surprise, Fiat. The latter sold 62.8% of its volume to end customers. The strategy of “pricing power” of the Stellantis group is now also at work in Fiat, which, before its merger, was one of the champions of tactical channels. Kia and Toyota completed the top of the ranking with 57.3% and 55.6% of its retail volume. Peugeot, on the other hand, still fails to deliver and only represents 33.8% of its sales to end customers.

Short-term rental companies are still under duress

In this context of busy production and delivery, short-term rental companies had a slow start to the year with only 6,152 vehicles, or just 5.4% of registrations. In 2019, the volume doubled with 12,791 units and 8% of the market. The Volkswagen brand, which Xavier Chardon, president of the VW group in France, recalled that this channel is profitable, monopolizes 22% of LCD activity, up 707%! Opel, Jeep and then MG also appear at the top of the ranking of the main brands active in this channel.

The fleet is off to a good start

The fleet market has not yet returned to pre-crisis volumes, but it is still recovering some color. In January 2023, companies and administrations were responsible for 34,310 registrations of passenger cars in France, a significant increase of 6.9% compared to January 2022. Peugeot, which finished last year in the BtoB lead, was almost celebrated a decrease in activity of 15 %, to 7,534 units.

And again, the influx of registrations was noted in the most recent straight line of the month. Renault, on the other hand, finally got back into forward gear with a 20.4% increase in roadworthiness, to 6,695 units. The year 2023 should be the year of the rebound for the diamond brand that now has a solid offer in the segment C. The podium is completed by Citroën, at -35.9% (2,567), now followed by Volkswagen at +19. .2% (2,336). Most other brands were in the green, with particular mention for Kia, which jumped 94.8%, to 863 units, and Tesla, which was up 711%, to 365 units.

+43.1% for EVs

With 14,649 registrations (+43.1%), electric vehicles won 13.1% of the market in January, against 9.9% last year. Renault is the most electric brand with 2,695 units, ahead of Dacia (1,911) and Peugeot (1,806). PHEVs raised their heads with growth of 29.8%, to 10,300 units, to post a share of 9.2%. A category dominated by Peugeot (1,391), DS (1,089), Mercedes (992) and BMW (896). Non-rechargeable hybrids remain at a high level (21.7% of the market) despite growth limited to 7% (24,257 units). The biggest “maker” is Renault (7,400) ahead of Toyota (7,104) and Hyundai (1,852). No surprises for diesel, which continues to fall (-33.4%) with 12,558 registrations and a market share of 11.2%.

Slight increase in conventional credit at the beginning of the year

Accident on the course or beginning of a lease arrangement? It’s hard to say about this month of January alone, but reading the registrations by channel and type of financing reveals an impressive figure: the share of conventional credit in financing cars by individuals. While over the year 2022, this share continued to decrease to end the year at 22.8%, the month of January 2023 shows a credit share of 24.8%. Punished by a very low rate of wear throughout 2022, this rate increase and the recent decision by the Banque de France to make its revision monthly, could relax the provision of traditional credit and slow rental growth. To be reviewed in the next few months.

UV decreased by 6.7%

The used car transaction market starts in 2023 with a decrease of 6.7%, to 411,454 units in all channels. Professionals registered 140,328 VOs, or 34.1% of the total. At the top of the ranking, only three brands finished: Toyota (+1.6%, up to 14,378 units), Dacia (+9.1%, up to 12,001 units) and Mini (+2.8%, up to 6,667 units). None of the French brands, except DS Automobiles (-2.8%, to 5,021 units) did better than average. In fact, Renault (at 77,741 units) and Citroën (at 43,960 units) lost 8.1%, while Peugeot lost 7.8% over the year (at 72,680 units). Finally, note that with a fall of 12.1%, to 212,074 units, diesel vehicles painfully maintained the majority (51.5% of the mix).

VUL: less

Months passed and the light utility vehicle market looked the same. We no longer count consecutive months of declining registrations. The decline therefore continues in January 2023, with only 26,358 road trips, meaning that the volume decreased by 6.3% compared to the same period last year. Renault regained some color with an increase in activity of 0.7%, bringing its volume to 7,951 units. The diamond brand thus consolidates its leadership with a market share of 30.2%. In contrast, Peugeot and Citroën literally fell, respectively, by 20.4% and 36%, to 4,240 and 3,287 registrations. The Stellantis group somewhat compensates for this poor performance with the resurgence of Fiat (1,886 units, +68.4%). The Italian brand is taking advantage of this development to take the title of No. 1 imported throughout the month.

(With Christophe Jaussaud, Damien Chalon and Gredy Raffin)

Get it again all new and used vehicle registrations from January 2023 in our Data Center.