New passenger car sales in France jumped 47.8pc to 186,323 units in December compared with 126,047 units in the prior month, according to Comité des Constructeurs Français d’Automobiles (CCFA) data.
Lockdown restrictions were lifted on shops, that adhered to strict hygiene measures, permitting them to reopen from November 28, 2020, and enabling consumers to leave their homes for longer periods of time, benefitting car sales in December.
Easing lockdown measures in France have clearly benefitted domestic new passenger car registrations over the past month, though local sales remain 11.8pc below volumes recorded in the same month the prior year.
Looking forward, the government has introduced a subsidy of €1,000 for the purchase of used electric vehicles and extended existing incentives where buyers decommission an old combustion vehicle by purchasing a new or used electric or hybrid models to June 2021.
Although these measures will no doubt incentivize new and used car sales in the short term, the overall economic uncertainty and employment stability will likely continue to constrict registrations until a healthier real economy improves consumer confidence.
As a result, Davis Index estimates this will undermine domestic steel consumption and ferrous scrap generation in the short- to medium-term.