The True Fleet Market in France produced its second negative month in a row finishing with a decline in growth of 17.1% and generated its lowest February volume since 2014.

Renault, Peugeot and Citroën taking the first three slots in the True Fleet Market.

The Total Market was down by 2.9% finishing with around 162,000 registrations with the Private Market registering a – 2.1% and Special Channels the only positive with + 7.7%.

The true fleet top five maintained their positions, with Renault, Peugeot and Citroën taking the first three slots, VW in fourth and was the first of only two manufacturers in the top 10 with positive growth, achieving a +7.8% for the month. The rest of the top 10 was made up of BMW, Ford, Audi and Mercedes and while none of them achieved growth in February, Ford was able to still jump three places from ninth place into sixth.

Toyota was the second manufacturer to post growth with a +35.6% which moved them inside the top 10 at ninth from 12th. Nissan completed the line-up and took the dubious honour of having the highest percentage drop in growth of -57.3%.

Dataforce also provided latest analysis on fuel choices, with a focus on the LCV market (0-3.5t). 2016 true fleet LCV units for 2016 stood around 322,000 units, of which 96.7% were diesels and this has remained steady since 2003 with only a maximum 2% difference in share over those 14 years (2016 being the lowest).

Commenting on the latest figures, Benjamin Kibies, Dataforce automotive analyst, said: “While changes in the French bonus-malus taxation system caused negative repercussions, uncertainties from the upcoming presidential elections may well have added to the true fleet market’s weaker performance at the beginning of the year. However, the business cycle is continuing to improve as domestic brands have introduced lots of new models. Only two in the true fleet’s diesel top 10 models are more than two years old. Still, the diesel technology stays under pressure, since the French crit-air sticker system may cause even Euro 6 diesels to be banned from cities in the early 2020s.”