10 key points of the car market in January 2023: the recovery will be confirmed!

By the end of 2022 the market is experiencing further growth in registrations to 111,939 units in January 2023, up 8.8%. The supply of vehicles is increasing. But there is no question of falling into euphoria, the market is still far from pre-crisis levels, when, for example, in 2019 volumes were more than 155,000 new cars.

A good start for…

As in 2022, Dacia starts with 11,538 registrations in 2023 (+54.4%) compared to 7,475 registrations a year ago. The Renault brand also started the year quite well, increasing monthly sales by 9.2% (17,097 units). Thus, the diamond group sees its market share increase from 22.6% to 25.6%. The Volkswagen group starts presenting its portfolio with an increase of 27.2% for VW, +19.8% for Audi, +25.3% for Skoda or +25.2% for Porsche. Nissan +34.9%, Toyota +20.6%, Fiat +31.8%, as well as Volvo (+43.8%), Tesla (+1443.8%), DS (+35.2%), Among the winners of the month are Alfa Romeo (240.3%), Land Rover ( +171.4%) or BMW (+24.2%).

Don’t stop at the start

Overall, Stellantis struggled with a 9.5% month-over-month decline in January 2023. Its market share fell nearly six points over the month, from 36.3% to 30.2%. Citroën continues on the same trajectory as in 2022 with -22.6% (8,205 units). The Chevron brand even leaves the Top 5 VPs. 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 down with a monthly decline of 13.6% (17,684 units). Mini starts the year with -36.5% difficulty, like Lexus (-27.6%) or Suzuki (-19.5%).

Individuals who own about 50% of the market

With 49.1% of registrations in January 2023, the private channel dominated deliveries, close to pre-crisis levels (49.8% in January 2019). This customer base increased by 13.7% to 55,018 units. However, not all brands exhibit the same level of distribution, far from it. The list of retail sales is led by Dacia with a share of 83.7% (9,661 units out of a total of 11,538 vehicles).

Among the brands that sell the most gray cards in this customer segment is another one, and this time the surprise is Fiat. The latter sold 62.8% of its volume to end customers. The “price power” strategy of the Stellantis group is still active in Fiat, one of the champions of tactical channels before integration. Kia and Toyota complete the top ranking with 57.3% and 55.6% of retail sales volume, respectively. Peugeot, on the other hand, is still unable to deliver and only shows 33.8% of its sales to end customers.

Short-term rental companies are still restricted

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

Fleets are off to a good start

The fleet market has not yet returned to pre-crisis volumes, but is still recovering somewhat. In January 2023, companies and authorities were responsible for the registration of 34,310 passenger cars in France, a significant increase of 6.9% compared to January 2022. Peugeot, which ended last year as the BtoB leader, hardly shone with a 15-person decline in activity. %, up to 7,534 units.

And again, the last straight line of the month recorded a flow of registrations. And Renault finally put the forward gears back, increasing its availability by 20.4% to 6,695 units. 2023 should be a boom year for the diamond brand with a solid offering now in the C segment. Citroën completes the podium with -35.9% (2,567), followed by Volkswagen with +19%. .2% (2,336). Most other brands are in the green, notably Kia, which is up 94.8% to 863 units, and Tesla, which is up 711% to 365 units.

+43.1% for electric vehicles

With 14,649 registrations (+43.1%), electric vehicles gained 13.1% of the market in January, compared to 9.9% a year earlier. Renault is the most electric brand with 2,695, ahead of Dacia (1,911) and Peugeot (1,806). PHEVs increased by 29.8% to 10,300 units, accounting for a 9.2% share. A category dominated by Peugeot (1391), DS (1089), Mercedes (992) and BMW (896). Non-rechargeable hybrids remain at a high level (21.7% of the market), although growth is limited to 7% (24,257 units). The largest maker is Renault (7,400), ahead of Toyota (7,104) and Hyundai (1,852). No surprises for diesel, which continues to decline (-33.4%) with 12,558 registrations and 11.2% market share.

A slight increase in conditional credit at the beginning of the year

Accident at lease termination or commencement? It’s hard to say anything about this January alone, but a reading of the registrations by channel and type of financing reveals a striking figure: the share of conventional credit in vehicle financing by individuals. During 2022, this share continues to decrease to 22.8% until the end of the year, while in January 2023, it shows a 24.8% credit share. Punished by a very low rate of erosion through 2022, an increase in this rate and the Banque de France’s recent decision to revise it could ease conventional lending and slow the growth of leasing. It will be reviewed over the next few months.

UV decreased by 6.7%

The used car transaction market is set to decline by 6.7% to 411,454 units across all channels in 2023. Professionals registered 140,328 VOs or 34.1% of the total number. Only three brands took first place in the rating: Toyota (+1.6%, 14,378 units), Dacia (+9.1%, 12,001 units) and Mini (+2.8%, 6,667 units). With the exception of DS Automobiles (-2.8%, 5,021 units), none of the French brands fared better than average. Indeed, Renault (77,741 units) and Citroen (43,960 units) lost 8.1%, while Peugeot lost 7.8% (to 72,680 units) over the year. Finally, diesel cars held the lead (51.5% of the mix), down 12.1% to 212,074 units.

VUL: always low

The months go by and look similar for the light utility vehicle market. We no longer count consecutively declining enrollment months. Therefore, the decline continues in January 2023, with a total of 26,358 car trips, which means that the volume has decreased by 6.3% compared to the same period last year. Renault regained some color with a 0.7% increase in activity and increased its volume to 7,951 units. Thus, the diamond brand strengthens its leadership with a market share of 30.2%. By contrast, Peugeot and Citroën literally fell by 20.4% and 36% to 4,240 and 3,287 registrations, respectively. The Stellantis group somewhat compensates for this weak performance with the improvement of Fiat (1,886 units, +68.4%). The Italian brand takes advantage of this progress to claim the title of No. 1 imported for the month.

(With Christophe Jaussaud, Damien Chalon and Grady Raffin)

To win again Registration of all new and used cars from January 2023 In our Data Center.