Electric vehicle sales surge in France: Renault 5 tops the charts

The French market saw a rise in registered new vehicles for the fourth month in a row. October sales numbers were saved by electric vehicles and therefore by the social leasing initiative. The new cars sold in France in October reached 139,513, or a 2.9% increase compared to October 2024.

Electric models saw a huge jump of 63%, surging to 34,108 registrations. This means that the EV market accounts for 24.45% of all vehicles in October. So one in four new vehicles registered is now an EV.

A huge reason for that surge in new EV registrations is the social leasing program France introduced, allowing low-income citizens to afford long-term leasing of electric vehicles at amazingly low rates.

The big winner in terms of popularity is the Renault 5 E-Tech, which we reviewed and loved. In September the R5 was overtaken by the Tesla Model Y, but the top spot has been recovered. All of Renault’s electric models - 4, 5, Scenic and Megane - take a spot in the top 10 most registered new EVs in France.

The Peugeot e-208 occupies the second spot, while another Renault - the Scenic rounds up the top 3. Positions four and five are for the Tesla Model Y and Peugeot e-2008. It should be noted that the Scenic and Model Y do not qualify for the leasing, yet still managed to be in top 5 in terms of new registrations, which is a great result.

Not so great are the sales of the Citroen e-C3, which is the cheapest option to lease. It came in 6th, which isn’t bad in itself but competitors are doing much better. Even its own ICE versions are performing very well, but the e-C3 is struggling to find customers.

The true underperformers should also be noted - the Smart #1 has just 27 sales and the Nissan Ariya has only 37. The new Ford Capri hasn’t been out on sale for a year and is already looking like a dated product nobody wants or considers with just 72 models sold - a true embarrassment.

Top 10 EVs in France for October, 2025