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After three months of improvement, the new-car market in France returned to decline in November. With 2025 now more likely to see overall volumes fall, how have hybrids contributed to the market’s performance? Autovista24 special content editor Phil Curry examines the latest data.
November saw registrations fall by 0.3% year on year. 132,929 passenger cars made their way to customers, according to Autovsta24 calculations based on data from PFA. This was a deficit of just 390 units compared to the monthly total in 2024.
France has seen struggles in its new-car market this year. It was not until August that any growth was registered. Now, November’s result brings a run of three months of positivity to a close.
Across the first 11 months of 2025, the country’s market dropped by 4.9%. In total, 1,459,227 new cars were delivered, based on Autovista24 analysis. This was up by 0.5 percentage points (pp) compared to October’s decline. However, this did not spark hope for a turnaround to a full year of growth.
At the end of November, there was a gap of 75,527 units compared to the same 11-month period in 2024. Therefore, the market would need a 41.1% jump in December’s figures to see any full-year growth. In this case, it is likely that France will experience a second-consecutive year of registrations decline.
Like other major European markets, France has been hampered by poor results generated by petrol and diesel powertrains in 2025.
However, the country has also seen the plug-in hybrid (PHEV) market struggle. The technology has not seen a single month of year-on-year improvement between January and November, adding to the French declines.
The battery-electric vehicle (BEV) market has also suffered, with five declines in the first six months of the year. However, following changes to the ecological bonus in July and the return of social leasing, the powertrain has seen gains.
This may have come at the cost of hybrids. Combining full and mild hybrids, the market saw double-digit growth in all but one month across the first three quarters. This improvement slowed in October, while November resulted in the lowest hybrid improvement of 2025.
With such fluctuations across all powertrains, a full-year decline is to be expected. However, the lower volume base could help the market achieve growth in 2026.
France’s hybrid market saw just 3.3% growth in November. A total of 54,212 units were registered in the month, an increase of 1,750 models. The powertrain continued to lead overall, accounting for 40.8% of all deliveries, a 1.4pp increase year on year.
However, November’s improvement was the lowest volume increase of 2025 so far. Having started 2025 well, there has been a notable slowdown in improvement. Since a jump in August, the market has started to level out again.
This has likely added to France’s woes when it comes to overall growth. Hybrids drove registrations for most of 2025, making up for losses in petrol and diesel units.
To highlight France’s reliance on hybrids, in January, the country’s new-car market declined by 6.2%. If the powertrain had not been included, overall volumes would have fallen 28.5%, a difference of 22.3pp. In November, the 0.3% overall decline would have been at 2.6% without hybrid inclusion, a difference of 2.3ppn on the actual result.
But while the powertrain’s deliveries have slowed, they were still the best-performing across the first 11 months of the year. With 644,824 deliveries, the technology was up 24% compared to the same point last year. This total represented 4.2% of the market, up from 33.9% a year prior.
The hybrid slowdown has seen BEV registrations soar. In November, 34,294 all-electric units were delivered to customers, a rise of 47.5%. This was the biggest growth of the month, with an additional 11,039 all-electric models delivered.
The powertrain is now comfortably the second-most popular choice in France, having taken the position in September. Last month, it achieved a 25.8% share in the country, up 8.4pp year on year. This was also its highest market share of the year.
The turnaround in the BEV market has been remarkable. After six months of 2025, registrations were down by 6.4%. Since the introduction of amended incentives in July, monthly improvements followed. This meant that after 11 months of 2025, deliveries were up 9.1% year on year. This provided a 19.5% market share, an increase of 2.5pp against the same period in 2024.
While BEV deliveries are improving, the PHEV market is in serious decline. November saw just 9,495 registrations for the powertrain, an 18.7% fall. Their 7.1% market share was down by 1.7pp compared to the same month in 2024.
This left the technology 24.9% down 11 months into 2025. A total of 91,355 units have been registered, a difference of 30,326 deliveries against last year. With a 6.3% market share, the powertrain is performing better than diesel, but still 1.6pp lower compared to 2024.
The performance of the PHEV market has dragged down the overall electric vehicle (EV) sector in France.
Combining both BEVs and PHEVs, EV registrations improved by 25.3% in November. This equated to an extra 8,851 units compared to November 2024. The grouping was still ahead of the internal-combustion engine (ICE) sector, but has been unable to pull away at the rate of other major European markets.
EVs held 32.9% of the total registration volume in the month. This was its highest share of 2025, managing only a 6.7pp year-on-year rise.
Between January and November, EVs were 1.7% down compared to the same period of 2024. The powertrains accounted for 25.8% of the whole market total, up just 0.9pp. This was still behind the ICE share, with a 0.7pp difference between the two.
To highlight just how dependent the EV market is on BEV growth, the sector was 8.6% down between January and September. The pull back to a drop of 1.7% is all to do with the growth in the all-electric segment.
Adding hybrids into the mix, the electrified market grew by 12.1% in November, with an extra 10,601 units taking to French roads. This meant 73.7% of deliveries in the month featured an electric element, up 8.1pp higher year on year.
After 11 months of 2025, electrified deliveries were up 13.1%, thanks to the performance of hybrids and BEVs. The grouping accounted for 70% of the total market, up 12.2pp.
While BEVs and hybrids grew, petrol and diesel pulled the market downward. Petrol registrations fell by 30.1% in November, with 23,358 registrations.
This meant a 17.6% market share, a 7.5pp fall compared to the same month of 2024. This was the lowest share of the year, and a significant 1.6pp drop compared to October 2025. Excluding the powertrain’s figures, deliveries in the month would have grown by 9.7%.
In the first 11 months of the year, petrol deliveries were down 32.1%, with 315,122 units. This is a drop of 148,951 units year on year. Meanwhile, the fuel type’s market share fell by 8.6pp year on year, to 21.6%.
Diesel held the lowest volume of the major powertrains in November. With just 7,059 units, registrations were down 20% compared to the same period last year. The powertrain held 5.3% of the market, down by 1.3pp.
Between January and November, diesel deliveries declined 36.7% compared to the same period in 2024. The 4.9% market share was 2.5pp lower year on year.
Combining petrol and diesel, the ICE market fell 28% last month, with a deficit of 11,814 units. Having dominated the country’s new-car market for years, its share fell to 22.9%, a drop of 8.8pp.
In the first 11 months of the year, ICE managed to hold just 26.5% of total registrations, an 11.1pp fall. With a 33% decline in deliveries, equating to 190,557 fewer units, the market is in freefall, as buyers turn to alternative powertrains.
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