Car trouble: Can the French car industry recover to pre-pandemic levels?

The French car industry is in trouble. To put it simply, it's selling fewer cars. In 2019, 2.21 million cars were sold in France. During the pandemic, this figure dropped by 25% and hasn’t fully recovered. In 2024, manufacturers sold only 1.72 million in France.

And yet, here's the irony: while selling fewer cars, the sector has been posting record profits. So, what's going on?

Fewer cars, bigger profits

Well, one of the leading reasons is that a car today is much more expensive.