Renault Megane E-Tech Electric (1st place among all-electrics in August). Photo: Rutger van der MaarA major French carmaker is replacing a popular ICE car with an all-electric model.
In France, Renault is now selling roughly as many vehicles under the popular Megane nameplate as last year. Except that now, a significant number of them are all-electric vehicles.
The outgoing generation of the Megane is a reasonably popular hatchback, also available as a station wagon. Now a new, all-electric Megane is filling its shoes — and the transition is going surprisingly smoothly, especially considering that the new model is not cheap.
The new generation, a “hatchback with crossover styling cues”, is available as a BEV only — there is no ICE, hybrid of PHEV variant or it.
The new model is manufacured in France, unlike its predecessor, which is manufactured abroad, in Spain; that might matter to French buyers (by the way, I didn’t find any definite confirmation that production of the old Megane in Spain has ended yet).
The market in August 2022
Among passenger vehicles, the market share of plug-in vehicles was at 20.9%. All-electrics were 13.5% while PHEVs were 7.4%.
Overall, the balance has shifted toward all-electrics (as opposed to PHEVs).
Top 10 all-electrics, August 2022:
1. Renault Megane E-Tech Electric (1521 units)
2. Fiat 500e (1325 units)
3. Dacia Spring (988 units)
4. Peugeot e-208 (889 units)
5. Renault Twingo E-Tech Electric (714 units)
6. Tesla Model Y (702 units)
7. Peugeot e-2008 (602 units)
8. Hyundai Kona Electric (465 units)
9. Renault Zoe (438 units)
10. Kia e-Niro (398 units)
Unsurprisingly, the new Megane E-Tech Electric took the first place among all-electrics in August.
The next four places, however, are all occupied by electric city cars — smaller and cheaper than the Megane. Among them, the Fiat 500e outsold the Peugeot e-208 (last month; but in cumulative year-to-date sales, the Peugeot is still in the lead). The Dacia Spring, imported from China, remains popular.
Note the decrease in Renault Zoe sales.
Fiat 500e (2nd place among all-electrics in August). Photo not taken in France. Photo: Alexander Migl_IMG_5587.jpg){kind=link}
Top 10 PHEVs, August 2022:
1. Mercedes GLC PHEV (352 units)
2. Kia Sportage PHEV (327 units)
3. Mini Countryman PHEV (325 units)
4. Peugeot 3008 PHEV (311 units)
5. Peugeot 308 PHEV (277 units)
6. Lynk & Co 01 (265 units)
7. Hyundai Tucson (253 units)
8. BMW X3 PHEV (239 units)
9. Mercedes GLA PHEV (233 units)
10. Volkswagen Tiguan PHEV (215 units)
Mercedes has announced that the upcoming generation of the GLC will get a larger, 30+ kWh battery — similar to the one already used in its bigger brother, the GLE. But I assume that what you see in the statistics for August are mostly, or exclusively, sales of the outgoing model — with a battery roughly half that size. Sales of that model have been reasonably good throughout the year.
Sales of the PHEV variant of the Peugeot 3008 compact crossover were quite impressive January through May, with over 1000 units sold in each of those months; then they took a dive. Although year-to-date, that model is still the #1 among PHEVs.
A PHEV variant of the old Megane is still available (both as a hatchback and as a station wagon), but there is no sight of it in the top 10 for August; it’s also nowhere to be found in the top 10 year-to-date.
The market year to date (Jan-Aug 2022)
Here are the results year to date (note: these figures come from NGC Data, while the figures above come from AAA Data/PFA):
Top 10 all-electrics, year to date (Jan-Aug 2022):
1. Peugeot e-208 (11982 units)
2. Fiat 500e (11185 units)
3. Dacia Spring (10852 units)
4. Renault Zoe (9516 units)
5. Renault Twingo E-Tech Electric (9315 units)
6. Tesla Model 3 (8063 units)
7. Renault Megane E-Tech Electric (6257 units)
8. Tesla Model Y (4713 units)
9. Peugeot e-2008 (4614 units)
10. Hyundai Kona Electric (4232 units)
Top 10 PHEVs, year to date (Jan-Aug 2022):
1. Peugeot 3008 PHEV (7044 units)
2. Peugeot 308 PHEV (4181 units)
3. Mercedes GLC PHEV (4107 units)
4. Citroen C5 Aircross PHEV (3531 units)
5. Hyundai Tucson PHEV (2800 units)
6. DS7 Crossback PHEV (2658 units)
7. BMW X3 PHEV (2452 units)
8. Kia Sportage PHEV (2191 units)
9. Volvo XC40 PHEV (2085 units)
10. Renault Captur PHEV (2017 units)
Peugeot e-208, the best-selling all-electric vehicle year to date. Photo: SOL — Supercars of London (on YouTube)What else is happening in the French car market? Well, after full 14 months of year-over-year decreases in monthly sales, there was a slight increase in sales in August (that’s total passenger vehicle sales, not just plug-in vehicles). But that’s comparing a slow month of 2022 to a slow month of 2021; it’s hard to say whether the upward trend will continue in the following months.
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Sources: [1],[2],[3],[4]