France’s automotive manufacturing is dominated by two major brands – Renault and PSA. The French automotive sector is highly competitive and price sensitive, and therefore restricts market opportunities for U.S. suppliers to those that have existing operations in Europe.
France has a total of 39 million vehicles on French roads in 2017, a 5.0% increase compared to 2016, making it the third largest market in Europe after Germany and the U.K. With 1.7 million passenger cars manufactured in 2017, France recorded a 6.8% increase compared to 2016 (1.6 million) and ranks third in Europe in the manufacturing of automobiles after Germany and Spain.
Approximately 2/3 of vehicles produced in France are domestic, either PSA or Renault brands. The others are Toyota, Daimler and Volkswagen. Production of passenger & light vehicles in France is expected to grow by 2% in 2018.
France also ranks third in Europe in passenger car registrations, after Germany and the U.K.
In 2017, approximately 2.1 million passenger cars were registered in France, an increase of 4.7% compared to 2016. New light trucks (under 5.1 metric tons) registrations reached 438,639 in 2017 (+7%), As for heavy duty vehicles France recorded an increase of 7% in 2017 with 50,434 new registrations. The used passenger vehicles segment stayed stable with 5.6 million registrations (+0.6%).
Meanwhile, France imported 4,762 new passenger vehicles & light truck units from the United States in 2017, compared to 5,994 units in 2016. France is the 7th largest importer in Europe for passenger cars from the U.S. after Germany, the U.K., Belgium, Norway, Switzerland and Italy.
France’s medium and heavy trucks imports from the U.S. is nominal and figures are not provided by the Bureau of Census. In 2016, 50 units of U.S. medium and heavy trucks were exported to France for a value of 1.9 million dollars.
As far as U.S. used passenger vehicle exports to France are concerned, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of the Census registered 1,865 units in 2017. In terms of automotive parts, France imported USD 350 million worth of U.S. auto parts in 2017, mainly through French subsidiaries of large Tier I U.S. suppliers. France is the seventh European partner of the United States after Germany, U.K., Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Belgium.
Stephanie Pencole
U.S. Embassy Paris, France
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