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October sealed a hat-trick of monthly growth for the French new-car market, with battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) pushing registrations forward. Will this momentum continue for the remainder of 2025? Autovista24 web editor James Roberts investigates.
The French new-car market recorded a third consecutive month of growth in October. Autovista24 calculations of figures published by PFA and AAA Data reveal that 139,519 models took to the country’s roads. This was 3,991 units more than in October 2024, equating to a 2.9% year-on-year upswing.
October 2025 contained the same number of working days as October 2024, highlighting the improvement in the French new-car market. The increase was not due to any offset in the available buying period, but due to genuine demand.
This monthly hat-trick has helped alleviate the country’s year-to-date deficit. Between January and October, 1,326,303 new vehicles were registered. This equalled a year-on-year decline of 5.4%, amounting to 75,132 fewer deliveries.
Despite the negative cumulative figures, October’s strong showing helped reduce the longer-term negative trend. A 3.3% year-to-date drop recorded in February spiralled into an 8.2% dive in the first five months of the year. Since then, the market has been slowly improving.
Consecutive double-digit year-on-year BEV uptake from July onwards has been central to this growth, mainly driven by fleets. However, according to AAA Data, private purchases are beginning to have more of an impact on overall registrations. This is largely thanks to more favourable purchase incentives.
Both petrol and diesel registrations continued along an established trend of decline. On the other hand, the hybrid market, made up of both full and mild hybrid powertrains, continued to lead the way. Although the pair did see their lowest monthly share so far this year.
AAA Data stated that across all powertrains, private sales accounted for 51% of the market. Meanwhile, fleet sales captured 30% of the overall market.
New incentive frameworks appear to be boosting BEV uptake in France. According to Autovista24 calculations based on PFA and AAA Data, the powertrain enjoyed a 63.2% delivery increase in October.
A year-best monthly volume of 34,110 units boosted the sector. This meant 13,211 more all-electric vehicles reached customers than in the same month last year. October’s BEV result also offered a 2,672 unit increase on September’s previous peak of 31,438.
With this positive uptick, the BEV market share reached 24.4% in October. This is the highest so far in 2025, and a 9 percentage point (pp) increase from October 2024.
Spanning the first 10 months of the year, 250,420 BEVs have taken to French roads, up 5.3% year-on-year. This is the first positive result for the powertrain in the year to date. Four months of positive BEV momentum has established a cumulative market share of 18.9%, up 1.9pp.
The French BEV market has traditionally been driven by fleets. While this channel remains a dominant driver, October saw a shift as individual buyers increasingly entered the market. According to AAA Data, registrations by individual consumers soared by 75%, compared to October 2024. This outpaced the already strong fleet registration growth of 66%.
This change has been assisted by improved purchase incentives. This included the ‘Coup de pouce’ bonus. As of 1 October, it provides an additional €1,000 for BEV purchases, provided the car is assembled in Europe and equipped with a European battery. This will remain available until 31 December.
‘The ecological transition is a lever for reindustrialisation,’ outlined Agnès Pannier-Runacher, minister of ecological transition, biodiversity, forestry, the sea and fisheries. ‘With this €1,000 increase in the ecological bonus, we are promoting electric vehicles whose batteries are produced in Europe and whose manufacture emits fewer greenhouse gases. It is a win-win measure for purchasing power, the climate and industry. It makes the electric car more accessible to the French, while supporting industry and employment.’
This was complemented by the renewed social leasing programme on 30 September. This scheme is set to involve at least 50,000 eligible households.
‘Electric registrations to individuals accelerated significantly during the month and showed the first significant effects of the new purchase incentives,’ stated Marie-Laure Nivot, head of automotive market analysis at AAA Data.
‘The outlook for the coming months is becoming more favourable. The supply of electric models is increasingly in line with demand and their gradual arrival among second-hand professionals is contributing to the decline in average second-hand prices.’
Despite the apparent BEV gains, caution must be applied. While the new incentives seem to have immediately slowed the fall in BEV sales to private buyers, broader market struggles could be unearthed.
This includes the wider slide in popularity of new internal-combustion (ICE) purchases, and increased taxes on these vehicles. This could drive down overall new-car sales. Additionally, more stringent eligibility rules require a low-carbon production footprint. This could exclude many non-European-produced electric models from incentives.
The plug-in hybrid (PHEV) powertrain is no stranger to double-digit declines in France. October reinforced this dominant trend, with year-on-year declines recorded every month this year so far.
According to Autovista24 calculations, last month saw 9,323 PHEVs join the French car parc. This equalled a year-on-year slide of 14.4% and 1,569 fewer units. As a result, the PHEV market share stood at 6.7pp, a 1.3pp year-on-year drop.
Despite this lacklustre performance, October’s significant BEV success bolstered the monthly prosperity of plug-in vehicle registrations overall.
Combined, BEV and PHEV sales amounted to 43,433 units in the month, ensuring a 31.1% market share, up 7.6% year on year. However, the poor PHEV performance is stunting the plug-in market in the year to date.
Between January and October, plug-in cars captured a 25.1% share of the market. This marked a year-on-year increase of just 0.3pp and a volume decline of 4.4%.
In lockstep with most major European new-car markets, hybrids remain the dominant choice in France. Autovista24 calculations revealed that this trend continued in October, as the powertrain seized 42% of the domestic new-car market, a 1.6pp year-on-year increase. 58,633 of these units were registered in the month, equating to a 7% boost in sales and 3,845 additional vehicles.
Across the first 10 months of this year, 590,063 new hybrids left French forecourts. This underlined a significant 26.2% year-on-year increase, illustrating that hybrid popularity is well established in France.
In the same period, hybrids accounted for 44.5% of the French new-car market. This resulted in a year-on-year increase of 11.1pp. Although this appears healthy, it is below the trending increases seen earlier in the year.
Adding the dominant hybrid figures to BEV and PHEV numbers reveals an expanding electrified market share. Combining the three powertrains saw a total of 922,343 electrified vehicles reach French drivers between January and October. This was up by 13.1% from the same period 12 months ago.
A strong showing in October from hybrids and BEVs helped push the electrified market share to 69.5% in the month. This is a high watermark for the year, plus an 11.3pp year-on-year lift.
New petrol registrations remained consistent in October. However, this was no cause for celebration.
The month matched September’s market share of 19.2%, with 26,742 registrations, according to Autovista24 calculations. This lagged behind the previous month’s total by 192 units. Year-on-year declines saw petrol 7.7pp in arrears.
Spanning the opening 10 months of 2025, petrol power popularity reached a new low. Occupying just 22% of the overall market, the fuel type has nosedived 8.7pp year on year.
Diesel witnessed a similar story in October, with sales hitting a new low for 2025. 5,807 new vehicles were registered, meaning a 33.7% year-on-year plummet in volumes. While this appears significant, it is not the largest drop. That occurred in March, with a 52.1% freefall.
Between January and October, the fuel type ended up with a 4.9% market share. This was just 1.3pp above the ‘others’ category, which includes superethanol (E85) powered vehicles, natural gas, and liquid-petroleum gas (LPG).
Combined petrol and diesel registrations continue to erode. The ICE share slumped to 26.9% after 10 months of the year, as 356,478 new vehicles were registered, 178,742 fewer than the same timeframe in 2024. This resulted in the ICE share slipping by 11.3pp year-on-year.
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