In January, vehicle registrations in France fell by 4.52% with respect to January of 2007. In total, 206,410 cars were registered and 2,574,259 new cars were sold in the last twelve months, 2.77% more than the year before.
The breakdown of car sales figures for the month of January is:
- Commercial vehicles sold: 44,294, 0.54% less than in January of 2007.
- Passenger cars regitrations: 162,116, which represents a figure of 5.55% less than in January of 2007.
France is among the ten countries where the greatest number of cars have been registered in the last year, in ranking of 135 countries based on number of vehicle registrations.
A very useful variable for estimating the level of economic wealth enjoyed by French residents, when compared to the other countries in the ranking, is the number of vehicles sold or registered per thousand residents in the last year. With annual sales of 40.22 cars per 1,000 residents, 3.22 of them in the last month, France, occupies 18th place in the ranking.
As can be seen, the number of registrations per thousand residents has fallen in the last year. A drop in registrations generally indicates a fall in consumer confidence and, when it is sustained, a recession in the real economy.
Changes in French vehicle registration numbers are shown in the tables below. As several studies indicate, these changes are very much related to changes in GDP and, hence, to a country's economic situation. Sales have grown since 1998, as 2,087,166 were produced that year as have the number of registrations per thousand residents, which that year numbered 34.82.
Here we show you the progression of vehicle registrations in France. You can see car registrations in other countries in en vehicle registrations and see all the economic information about France in en French economy.