Second-hand car sales at half mast, prices on the rise, nothing is going well at the start of 2023. Above all, some of the behavior of buyers should give the public authorities serious thought…
While we have noticed a very slight rebound in the new market for several months, the second-hand market continues its descent into hell. In its latest monthly barometer, AutoScout notes that registrations remain “at levels well below 2022”. The fall is 6.7% compared to the previous year. And when we compare this data “to the pre-covid period and to February 2019, the drop is -7.4%”. In this inflationary period where everything is increasing, buying a used car is clearly not a priority for the French. At the same time, just take a look at the graph below to understand why they are no longer there, the prices have simply exploded. While they were barely above €22,000 on average in 2019 on the AutoScout24.fr website, they now exceed the €30,000 mark! The disaffection that buyers have with used vehicles is one thing, but there are many other elements of which the government should be alarmed…
Diesel still in the majority
The state has waged war on them in vain for a few years, and in particular since the Dieselgate scandal, diesel fuel cars are still clearly in the majority in transactions. The French are still very attached to it. Admittedly, their share has fallen somewhat compared to 2022 (-4.1% market share in one year) but it remains above 50%, 51.8% to be precise. Two other indicators are disconcerting to say the least. On the one hand, their registrations increased over the first two months of 2023. On the other hand, 61% of diesel vehicles sold are more than 10 years old!
Vehicles aged 16 and over are the only ones to progress, recent cars in sharp decline
Along the same lines, while Low Mobility Emission Zones are beginning to multiply in France and the cities concerned are doing their best to eliminate the oldest vehicles considered too polluting, these are precisely the 16-year-old models. and no longer the only ones to have seen their sales evolve in the right direction (but not for the ZFE-m therefore). In one year, the increase was a decent 6.87%. They accounted for 1 used car out of 4! Conversely, all the other age groups are in decline. And more particularly the most recent models, those which are less than 5 years old and which the French should buy in priority…
Zero-emission models are losing ground… and are more than ever flush with the daisies
Finally, and to crown it all, if electrification gains ground even on occasion, it does not happen as the public authorities would like. In one year, the market share of hybrid models has increased by 19.33%, a rather good score. While at the same time, used electric cars are attracting fewer and fewer buyers: sales down 6.83%. With a market share of 1.24% last month, they were still largely in the minority. Their excessively high prices (€38,420 on average over the first two months of 2023) partly explains this lack of love. And it’s not the €1,000 bonus awarded automatically that will help convince the French, more will have to be done.
In short, purchasing power is a burning issue these days. You only have to look at the great breakthrough of LPG models to be convinced of this, since their market share has jumped by 19.6%, which is better than hybrids.
Also read on Auto-Moto.com:
The Volkswagen Golf is no longer the queen of sales in Europe, should other compact sedans be worried?
Car sales in Europe in 2022: the big winners and the big losers
Car sales in 2022: how manufacturers are drowning the fish by promoting electric
