the car dealership market | France

1.1 Definition and scope of study

Automobile dealerships are one of the many types of businesses that exist today for the purchase or resale of motor vehicles. They may be independent of automakers, but in most cases they are linked to certain automakers by purchase and sales contracts, which are rarely exclusive. The major French and foreign brands have all developed their own distribution networks, through which they sell their own-brand cars. Dealerships can sell both new and used vehicles. Indeed, the pre-owned segment is crucial, since around 80% of all car sales involve used vehicles.

Dealers are the so-called classic sales channel, and despite intensifying competition due to the emergence of certain segments such as online sales, they still manage to hold their own. In particular, dealers benefit from the historical image of the brands they represent, which helps build customer loyalty. This is also beneficial for non-expert customers, who tend to relate to the image that these brands have managed to establish over the years.

Despite the low level of presence in France today, the market for electric vehicles is booming, and is expected to account for almost a third of the market by 2025. Production processes are becoming less costly and increasingly organized so that vehicles can be distributed more quickly. This trend could accelerate with the European Parliament's vote on June 8, 2022, to ban the sale of gasoline and diesel-powered vehicles by 2035.