- The French market has benefited from scrapping schemes between 2009 and 2011, encouraging consumers to bring forward purchases. A phenomenon exacerbated by the deferral of vehicle purchases in 2008 due to the global financial crisis and its consequences.

- Between 2000 and 2011, the market average was 2.1 million units, while sales reached 2.27 million units in 2009, 2.2 million  in 2010 and 2.17 million in 2011. The French market has accumulated over the past three years an additional volume of 360,000 cars compared to the average.

- Sales volume in 2012 was 1.86 million units, 240,000 units less than the average of the last ten years. The year 2013 should theoretically be around 1.98 million units, i.e. showing  a decrease of 120 000 units compared to the average market.

- The economic context associated with new patterns of consumption, however, may lower volume of French automobile market down to  1.8 million units per year in the years to come.

Data source: File #52 - Monthly registrations by countries and by makes