France: Sales collapse of BEVs imported from China in the first 4 months of 2024
- Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) imported from China (Chinese brands and European brands) represented around 25% of the BEV market in France during the first half of 2023 and around 30% during the second half of 2023 until October. Then the announcement of additional criteria to benefit from the ecological bonus for Battery Electric Vehicles produced outside Europe created an opportunistic effect in November and December 2023. Indeed, the French market share of BEVs imported from China suddenly increased to 37% in November and 36% in December. After this period, we should therefore expect a compensatory effect at the time of application of the new criteria of the ecological bonus during the last weeks of December, i.e. a significant drop in sales of BEVs imported from China in 2024, or at least during the first half of 2024.
- This is exactly what happened. The French market share of BEVs imported from China thus fell to 28% in January 2024, then 17% in February 2024, 11% in March 2024 and 7% in April 2024. The new ecological bonus has therefore had a real impact on sales of BEVs imported from China in 2024 in France. But we see that it is the Dacia Spring, a French car, which has suffered the most from this new ecological bonus, undoubtedly because the 5,000 euros of bonus removed represents 25% of its price (20,000 euros), i.e. much more than for an MG or a Tesla.
- In terms of volume, BEVs imported from China which were around 6,000-7,000 units per month in August-September-October 2023 increased to 11,000-13,000 units per month in November-December 2023 before collapsing to 5,500 units in January 2024, 4,300 in February 2024, 3,800 in March 2024 and 1,660 in April 2024. At the same time, sales of BEVs produced in European countries increased, as Chinese BEVs customers shifted to other BEVs available on the market, in an overall French market remaining stable.