Autos: France drops to 5th place in European car production
Source · Automotive desk
— Summary
France's car industry has slipped to 5th place in Europe by production volume. In 2025, French plants assembled roughly 986,000 cars, up 15.5 per cent year-on-year on a post-crisis rebound but still well short of the 3.7 million produced in 2002. France is now overtaken by Germany (4.03 million), Spain (1.77 million), the Czech Republic (1.44 million) and Slovakia (1.07 million). Its share of European car production has fallen to about 9 per cent, from 11 per cent in 2013.
The drivers are structural. French carmakers — Stellantis (PSA–FCA) and Renault — have steadily offshored small-car assembly, the historic pride of the French industrial base, to Spain, Morocco, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, where labour and energy are significantly cheaper. The upmarket end has stayed elsewhere: Renault's electric R5, a 2024–2025 commercial success, is built in Douai, but the Peugeot 208 is assembled in Slovakia, the Citroën C3 in Slovakia and Trnava. The closure of the Stellantis Poissy plant, to be announced in the coming days, symbolises the shift. The site, which makes the DS3 and DS4, will not be replaced by a new model.
The picture is not uniformly bleak. Renault's electric R5 and R4 are meeting European demand, and France remains both groups' R&D and design headquarters. But the underlying trend is clear: France has become a distribution market more than a production country. Rebalancing would require either a marked cut in production costs, a durable technological edge (electric, hydrogen, software), or a coordinated EU industrial policy with Germany. All three are missing. Source: Les Echos, 20 April 2026, Julien Dupont-Calbo et al.
The story in one line. France produced about 986,000 cars in 2025, more than four times fewer than in 2002, slipping to 5th place in Europe behind Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
Key numbers
French production 2025: ~986,000 vehicles, +15.5% year-on-year.
French production 2002: ~3.7 million vehicles.
German production 2025: 4.03 million.
Spanish production 2025: 1.77 million.
Czech production 2025: 1.44 million.
Slovak production 2025: 1.07 million.
French share of European production: ~9% (vs 11% in 2013).
France’s automotive deindustrialisation is no longer a cyclical phenomenon — it is a trajectory. Small models, the core of French output, have been shifted to lower-cost geographies; upmarket models have not moved back to compensate. The 15.5 per cent rebound in 2025 is flattering but misleading: it measures against a collapsed 2024 base and does not change the decade-long trend. At a European level, car production has relocated towards the centre and east of the continent, where energy, labour and logistics costs close the case before any negotiation with the manufacturers begins.
The knock-on effects on the French value chain are heavy. Suppliers (Valeo, Forvia, Plastic Omnium) follow their customers out of the country; French sites are kept alive through R&D rather than production; the state loses social contributions and also loses a strategic argument at the EU level on CO₂ rules. The Douai R5 success shows a revival is possible, but it would be confined to high-value electric vehicles — a segment that is structurally smaller in volume than the thermal market it replaces.
Takeaway
France is no longer a producing auto country in the traditional sense. Watch for the official Poissy announcement, Stellantis’ plan for the next-generation Peugeot 208, and Renault’s 2026 decisions on the Clio and Captur. The future of France’s car industry is being decided line by line, model by model — and right now, the calls are going the wrong way.
Source: Les Echos, 20 April 2026, Julien Dupont-Calbo et al.