France is the European leader in the production of light utility vehicles
- France has gradually become the European leader in the production of light utility vehicles in the three segments available on the market (N1-1: small utility vehicles, N1-2: medium utility vehicles, N1-3: large utility vehicles).
- First of all, it is to be noted that France is the European first market for light utility vehicles, but for a simple reason: carmakers offer on this market specifically modified sedans (and now also some SUVs) with reduced taxes (which we could qualify as fake utility vehicles) in a significant quantity, 59,000 units in 2023 compared to 51,000 in 2022 and 55,000 in 2021. These vehicles represent around 15% of LUVs sold in France each year.
- As for real utility vehicles (vans and pickup trucks), which represent 85% of LUVs sold in France, they also represent 35% of automobile production in France in 2023 and 25% of LUV production in Europe.
- While the production of passenger cars in France has been largely relocated over the past twenty years to other European countries, even to Turkey or Morocco, this is less true for light utility vehicles. Renault, for example, keeps the entire production of its Kangoo (N1-1), Trafic (N1-2) and Master (N1-3) in France, as well as their Nissan derivatives. For Stellantis, the observation is more nuanced: its medium utility vehicles (N1-2) Citroën Jumpy, Peugeot Expert, Fiat Scudo, Toyota ProAce are mainly produced in Hordain, in the North of France, as well as a small quantity of Opel Vivaro.
-By comparison, LUVs represent 9% of the German production, 10% for Poland, 11% for Italy, 16% for Turkey 16% and 17% for Spain.