10 key points of the car market in May 2026: Electric bandage on a wooden leg

Pros that don’t erase the cons
Is May 2026 a turning point? The market increase of 3.7%, representing 128,484 registrations, tends to erase the disappointments at the beginning of the year and move closer to zero. In the first five months, the automobile market is actually close to balance (-0.6%) with 668,379 vehicles. But there’s not much to celebrate. May 2025 was indeed one of the worst months for the auto market. Automotive Platform (PFA) reminds that the market has shrunk by 34% compared to the pre-Covid period! Although electric vehicle sales have increased by 92.8%, representing almost one in three sales, the market overall is in a very pronounced depression.

The decline of French producers
This is not the case for French producers if the market is on the rise. With less than a hundred units, the Renault and Stellantis groups are in the same boat. They fell to 31,873 and 31,787 registrations, down 7.6% and 7.7% respectively. In detail, all brands of the Renault group, such as Stellantis, are in decline, except Fiat (2,496; +71%) and Jeep (865; +14.7%).

Stop by Hyundai, Ford and company
The decline is also quite evident for the Hyundai group (4,559; -17.2%), Ford (1,999; -36%); As a reminder, this has fallen below the symbolic bar of 2% market share since the beginning of the year and is also true for Suzuki (1,065; -18.9%). The situation of the Geely group is a little different. Its registrations fell by 14.9%, but this decline was attributed only to Lynk & Co (12; -93.8%), while the “main” brand, in this case Volvo, was flat (838; +0.6%).

The Rise of Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW and Mercedes
The Volkswagen group, on the other hand, came up with some light colors. It increased by 1.6% (20,037) and took fourth place on the podium (8,825; +0.1%), ahead of its eponymous brand Citroën (8,458; -7.6%). But generally speaking, it was Skoda that has been supporting the German group for several months. The Czech brand grew by 13.5% (4,536). Audi also supported the parent company with a 7.4% increase (3,811). The Toyota group is also doing well (8,111; +4.2%), as are BMW (7,930; +41%) or Mercedes-Benz (3,827; 19.6%).

Chinese manufacturers are approaching the top 10
What matters now is that Chinese manufacturers continue to move forward. MG’s advance (2,682; +4.1%) allowed it to place 12th in the all-brand rankings, followed very closely by BYD (2,585; +175.6%), ahead of Opel (2,560; -2.8%) and Hyundai (2,511; -18.7%), to name just these two brands. The very small differences between these new entrants and the “historic” ones show that the struggle is seriously ongoing. Two months after its official arrival, Jaecoo has 901 registrations (including 802 individual ones!), while XPeng has put 682 vehicles (+167.5%) on the roads. Things are even more complicated for Leapmotor, which has difficulty gaining a foothold in the French geography with 604 sales. Also note the first registrations of Geely (111) and Zeekr (15), officially available since the end of April 2026.

Almost one in three cars is electric
The electrical explosion, which represents 29.1 percent and 92.8 percent of the market share, that is, the explosion of 37 thousand 412 vehicles, is the tree that hides the forest. This is due to social renting, corporation tax and Tesla selling 5,446 cars, up 655%! The American brand alone represented more than 14% of electric registrations, placing it behind Renault and its 7,463 units. As for other energies, it goes without saying that the results are all diminished. In such a context, non-rechargeable hybrids fell by 8% (23,832) and plug-in hybrids (-5.9%; 7,630). On the other hand, it is noteworthy that LPG surpassed diesel (-52.5%; 3,291) with an increase of 21.1% (5,605) due to the increase in pump prices. Finally, for completeness, 100% gasoline engines fell 37.4% (18,926); this decline was not offset by the increase in MHEVs (+9.3%; 29,208), which nevertheless remained the second most sold energy.

Individual and long-term rentals in good condition
There was a 14.6% increase in the individual channel, which accounted for 44.4% of the registrations. Behind these good results, we also need to see the results of the social rental that is coming to an end, the last registrations will take place at the end of July. Long-term rentals also recorded a good result (+11.9%), but that of companies and administrations fell by 8.1%, according to AAA Data. However, this month’s market was relatively healthy; because tactical registrations fell at best, like those of demonstration vehicles (-17.8%), while at worst they stagnated, as did vehicles for short-term rental purposes (+0.6%).

End of bleeding for VP fleets
A small event in the fleet market. The number of passenger vehicles on the road finished in green, +1.1%, with 30,802 units, a first since December 2024! Electric models, which increased by 128% to 13,112 units, were effective in this growth. Battery models represent 42.6% of BtoB VP deliveries in the past month. But all other energies are bright red. The number is still out, as passenger vehicle registrations have fallen 8% to 165,813 units since January. 65,584 electric vehicles are on the roads, showing a penetration of 39.6%.

Public services are losing their footing
Light commercial vehicle registrations ended in the red for the second month in a row. The decline has been accelerating since AAA Data recorded a 10.9% decline in May to 26,009, following a 6.7% deficit in April. This dragged the light commercial vehicle market into the red after five months in 2026. It lost 1.5% for just 145,184 units. The electric breakthrough is still awaited, as only 17,266 battery-powered SUVs have been delivered since January, including 3,432 in May.

An unnamed progress for VO
Used car sales fell 4% in May to 409,141 transactions. That’s it for the front. Comparing the number of working days to last year (17 days compared to 19 last year), there was an increase of 7.3% in May, with a daily rate of over 24,000 units. This observation also applies to brands, whose invoices fell by 9.9% to 154,025 second-hand cars, with a total increase of 3.3% at the daily rate to 8,100 second-hand sales. Apparently, only copies over 16 years old benefited from May (+6.3% to 136,900 units). However, there is no doubt that there was a 120.6% increase in second-hand electric cars, which were the subject of 22,930 transactions! In the long term, the national used vehicle market still tends to decline: -4.5% after five months to 2.165 million units (-2.6% for the equivalent number of working days).

(with Damien Chalon, Christophe Jaussaud, Catherine Leroy and Gredy Raffin)

You can find all new and used vehicle records for May 2026 in our Data Center.