Dark year for the French automotive market, which will shrink by almost 8% in 2022
The French automobile market fell by 7.83% in 2022, the upturn of recent months having failed to offset global delivery difficulties and shortages of electronic chips, according to figures published on Sunday by the Automotive Platform (PFA ), which represents manufacturers and equipment manufacturers.
A total of 1,529,035 new passenger cars were put into circulation last year, compared to 1,659,003 in 2021, compared to 2.2 million in 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the PFA.
After a disastrous 2020, with closed dealerships and a sluggish economy, the sector had not rebounded in 2021, and it relapsed in 2022, despite four months of increases in the second half.
“We are structurally in a market which has fallen by a third in volume since 2019, due to a succession of crises”, declared to AFP François Roudier, head of communication for the PFA.
These crises “add up”, he explained, listing “the problem of the availability of electronic components, the difficulties of delivering vehicles due to a lack of drivers, which have been accentuated with the war in Ukraine, the increase in costs too expensive materials and fuel”.
The used car market, which took off in 2021, is also down sharply by 13% with 5.26 million units, according to provisional data from the firm NGC Data published by Argus.
