Emmanuel Macron opened the Paris Motor Show on Monday, October 12, then told his followers on X that evening that more than 40% of vehicles sold in France in September were electric. The industry’s own count puts it at 42%. In the United States, Cox Automotive expects new EVs to hold about 6% of sales.
The French president also said France now runs four battery gigafactories and that the Renault 4 and Renault 5 leave French assembly lines with French-made batteries. His post set three priorities for the industry: protection against unfair competition, faster electrification, and European sovereignty in vehicle production.
France’s best-selling electric car in September was neither of those Renaults. It was the Tesla Model Y, with 8,183 registrations.
France’s EV Share Hit 42% in September, Up From 22% a Year Earlier
French new-car registrations rose 11.6% in September to 156,629, according to provisional AAA Data figures released October 1 by the PFA, the French automotive industry association. Electric cars took 42% of them. That share was 38% in August and 22% in September 2025.
The PFA figures count 387,345 electric cars registered since January, 31.4% of the year’s market against 18.3% a year ago. Hybrids still lead the year at 49.1%. Renault Group held 25.58% of the September market, after an EV run that lifted its first-half profit.
The report credits the third round of France’s social leasing program, which opened July 16 and caps monthly rent at €200 for eligible households. The September podium, per Rouleur Électrique, was the Model Y, the Renault 5 at 5,224 and the new electric Renault Twingo at 4,992.
Three Northern French Cell Plants Stand Behind Macron’s Gigafactory Count
France has three large battery cell plants built and open in the Hauts-de-France region: ACC at Billy-Berclau/Douvrin, AESC at Douai, producing since 2025, and Verkor near Dunkirk, inaugurated in December 2025. Macron’s X post counts four gigafactories but does not say which plants he means.
He gave the same count in an October 8 speech at Bpifrance, again without naming them, and said the R4 and R5 are produced in France with French-made batteries. The record backs him on those two cars. AESC holds the exclusive battery contract for both and builds the cells in Douai, L’argus reported last year. The Renault 5 is assembled at Douai and the Renault 4 at Maubeuge.
ACC used the show to announce its five millionth cell, saying September’s module output alone came close to its entire 2025 production. Its cells go into eight Stellantis models, including the Peugeot E-3008 and E-5008, and a second production block for Mercedes-Benz is due in 2027. The plant dates and AESC’s start come from a January review of French gigafactories by Techniques de l’Ingénieur.
The EU-China Hybrid Deal Still Needs EU Leaders’ Approval
EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič and Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao signed a joint statement in Beijing on October 9 with a “shared understanding” to moderate China’s exports of hybrids and plug-in hybrids to the EU. Leaders examine it at the October 15 and 16 European Council.
Šefčovič said the deal opens the prospect of cutting those exports by more than half. Hybrids sit outside the duties Brussels placed on Chinese battery-electric cars in October 2024. Eunews cites a Bloomberg report that put Chinese brands at almost 12% of new cars registered in Europe, driven by hybrid demand. The two sides had been talking about a minimum price for Chinese EVs since last year.
Macron’s post says France and Germany are moving toward an agreement that squares decarbonization with protecting French industry, with building vehicles and their components in Europe as the priority. Handelsblatt reported a trade in which Paris accepts an 80% cut in new-car CO2 by 2035, rather than the Commission’s proposed 90%, in exchange for German support on stricter Made in Europe rules. The Élysée denied it, Euronews reported, saying “There is no agreement” while confirming the talks. EVXL covered the Commission’s move to soften the 2035 combustion ban in December.
Only the Renault 5 on September’s EV Podium Is Built in France
Of the three best-selling EVs in France in September, only the Renault 5 is assembled in the country. Tesla has no French factory, and the electric Twingo comes from Renault’s plant in Novo Mesto, Slovenia, where assembly started this year.
France registered 331,000 electric cars in 2025, and its plants built 216,000, according to Insee figures cited by Euronews. Six in ten French-built EVs went abroad, and only 26% of the new EVs French buyers took home were made in France. The government’s target is two million EVs built in France per year by 2030.
Citroën’s show car points the same way. The 2 CV Concept previews a model due within two years at around €15,000, and Citroën says it will be manufactured in Europe without naming a plant.
EVXL’s Take
Macron has earned the 42%, and the €200 social lease did much of that work. I’d defend that policy, because it put affordable EVs in front of households that needed them. The gigafactory count is the weaker claim. I’d judge his industrial record on the 26% domestic share instead, and the R4 and R5 only move that number if Renault keeps adding volume at Douai and Maubeuge. The hybrid deal is fair game, since hybrids were the gap Chinese brands drove through after the 2024 EV duties. If Paris gives up part of the 2035 CO2 target to win stricter Made in Europe rules, I think that’s a bad trade, because demand is the part of his policy with results to show.
Source: Emmanuel Macron on X, PFA via France Épargne, Rouleur Électrique, Élysée, Euronews, Eunews, Actutem, L’argus, Techniques de l’Ingénieur, Citroën
EVXL uses automated tools to support research and source retrieval. All reporting and editorial perspectives are by Haye Kesteloo.
