Buy the full study
Summary of our market study
the French LCV market totals some 380,000 vehicles.
The French light commercial vehicle (LCV) market is important to the country's logistics and economy, particularly in urban areas and for "last mile" delivery services.LCV journeys are mainly short and urban, and make a major contribution to the delivery of services, the transport of materials and the delivery of goods.
Most French LCVs are used for services such as mail and deliveries, transport of building materials and personnel.
LCV journeys for the delivery of goods account for only around 20%.
There are between 6 and 7 million LCVs in circulation. Only 5% of vehicles are replaced each year, and the fleet is ageing. 25% of vehicles are over 15 years old.
The market shows a strong preference for rental with purchase option.
The Île-de-France region is the main market for these vehicles.
Peugeot and Citroën account for almost 64% of the national market share.
Over 95% of LCVs are diesel-powered, but there is growing pressure for the production and adoption of electric, hybrid and hydrogen-powered vehicles.
The LCV sector's trade balance is in surplus
Light commercial vehicle (LCV) market players
- Renault: With popular models such as the Renault Kangoo and Master ZE, the Renault Group is a leading player in the French LCV market.
- PSA: The PSA Group, which includes well-known brands such as Peugeot and Citroën, has an impressive market share.
- Mercedes-Benz: Mercedes-Benz maintains a strong presence in the French LCV market.
- FIAT: The FIAT Group is a leading competitor with its Dobló and Ducato models, which come in traditional and hybrid versions. Its subsidiary, Iveco, also contributes to the market with vehicles such as the Daily Natural Power van, which runs on natural gas.
- Nissan With innovative products such as the e-NV200, Nissan stands out for its commitment to electric mobility in the light commercial vehicle market.
- Ford: Ford has also taken up the challenge of ecological transport with models such as the Transit Custom PHEV.
to understand this market
Detailed content of our market study
Inforamtion
- Number of pages : ~ 40 pages
- Format : Digital and PDF versions
- Last update :
Summary and extracts
1 Market overview
1.1 Definition and scope of the study
A light commercial vehicle (LCV) is defined as a four-wheeled motor vehicle whose gross vehicle weight does not exceed 3.5 metric tonnes. They are generally used for the transportation of goods. While this is a technical definition it is quite broad and a they can be categorised by their typology
- Van (i.e. Peugot Boxer or Renault Rifter
- Mini-van (i.e. Renault Kangoo or Citroën Berlingo. This can be seated or unseated, with only the first row having 3 seats)
- Pick-up truck
- Mini-truck (i.e. Nissan Cabstar)
- Other (i.e. Piaggio Ape)
The global LCV market has been in constant fluctuation in recent years, it peaked in 2016 and proceeded to record decade lows in 2018 and 2019. Naturally, the COVID-19 pandemic did not help and the market suffered further. In France however, 2019 saw record sales for this market and it grew by 4.5% compared to 2018.
LCVs are a key part of the logistics sector and particularly in the 'last-mile' delivery of goods. These types of vehicles are also used for the delivery of services and occasionally used for transportation of people. With the advent of e-commerce, which has been accelerated by the pandemic, these vehicles are becoming even more crucial to the economy of urban centers. Consumers and manufacturers are becoming more acutely aware of the environmental challenges ahead and are complying with increasing regulations with more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly LCVs being manufactured and bought each year. Due to this R&D in this market is also significant.
In France, French manufacturing companies such as Groupe Renault and Groupe PSA control an very significant share of the market. Other foreign groups such as Fiat Group, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan and Ford have smaller but still significant shares of the national market
1.2 The Global Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) Market
The global light commercial vehicle (***). After reaching its peak in ****, this market saw three continuous years of gradual decline. This market is in part driven by both Asian producers and consumers, who make up a significant part of both the segments. In this region LCVs are often used by companies as ...
1.3 The Peaking French Market
France is the European country with the most light commercial vehicles in circulation registered, counting *.* million vehicles in **** which is around **% of the whole French motor vehicle fleet. Every year only *% of French LCVs are replaced, resulting in a very stable fleet. These type of vehicles age quite slowly, and **% of ...
1.4 An important continental exporter
Overall, France exports more LCVs than it imoprts. However this was not the case right after the financial crisis of ****. In **** imports were still higher than exports, however by **** this trend was reversed. In that year *.* billion euros worth of LVCs were exoprted throughout the world with *.* billion euros imported. The ...
1.5 The Impact of COVID-19
Very few markets were spared by economic effects of the COVID-** pandemic, the French LCV market was not one of them. After growing by a further *.*% in the month of January, lockdown started being enforced and with the decreased movement of goods and people this market was instantly hit. In **** France ...
2 Demand Analysis
2.1 Short, working day urban trips, both in time and distance
When speaking of vehicle movement a trip is considered a one way movement between two points. The average trip for a light commercial vehicle in France is * hours, including loading and discharing. In fact, **% of these trips are inferior to ***km and **% are inferior to **km. The longest typology of trips ...
2.2 Seasonal ebbs and flows
The light commercial vehicle market is tightly intertwined with the logistics sector and it is crucial in the transportation goods. This market had been steadily growing in France for * years prior to **** and had seen important postitive month-to-month and year-to-year growth figures. There appears to be a correlation between LCV purchases ...
2.3 Île-de-France vs, a well known story
The map below illustrates the concentration of new registrations of light commercial vehicles in ****. The Île-de-France region dominates France with almost **.*** newly registered vehicles, a **.*% growth from the previous year. The region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes comes in second place with almost **.*** newly registered LCVs in ****, growing less than *% from ****. It is ...
2.4 Personal use, Construction and Commerce
Of the almost * million light commercial vehicles in circulation in France **% are employed for personal or artisanal use while **% are used by businesses, associations and administrations (***).
Purpose for the use of LCVs France, **** by % Source: ****
Purpose for the use of LCVs France, **** in ***s Source: ****
Over one quarter of the LCVs ...
2.5 Environmental regulation pressures
Over **% of light commercial vehicles in France use diesel as fuel, with gas, electric and hybrid cars making up a tiny share. In France, there is a vignette/sticker known as Crit'air which grades vehicular emission based on European environmental standards. Vehicles are ranked starting from green (***). Vehicles included in this ...
3 Market structure
3.1 The French love their own
France is the first European country in terms of usage and purchase of light commercial vehicles. There are currently around * million LCVs in circulation on French roads and hundreds of thousands are sold each year. These type of vehicles are vital to the French economy. Light commercial vehicles serve very specific ...
3.2 Financing
In France, renting with the option to buy is by far the most popular scheme for buyers of light commercial vehicles that go through a financial institution to complete their purchase. In fact, in **** **.*% of people seeking financing to buy their LCV or industrial vehicle chose this option, followed by **.*% who ...
3.3 Second-hand purchases
**** was a positive year for the second hand purchases of light commercial vehicles. A total of ***.*** second hand sales were recorded, an increase of *% from **** and the first time that the ***.*** mark was surpssed since ****. Unexpectedly, French brands continue to dominate these type of sales with over two thirds of transactions ...
4 Analysis of the offer
4.1 Different shapes and sizes
Light commercial vehicles are four-wheeled motor vehicles generally used for the carriage of goods. Light commercial vehicles do not surpass *.* tonnes of weight. This is a rather broad definition and many different types of vehicle models fall into this category. The most common are:
Van (***) Mini-van (***) Pick-up truck Mini-truck (***) Other (***)
In ...
4.2 Limited purchase options
The purchase of new light commercial vehicles in France is mainly restricted to two channels:
Directly from manufacturers (***) Other (***)
New LCV purchases in France predominantly take place directly from manufacturers, which is a historic tendency. Generally, LCV purchasers have a unique profile and need these types of vehicles for specific purposes, ...
4.3 LCVs going green
To adhere to past, present (***).
The FIAT Group is also heavily invested in this ecological transition. In fact, since the late ****s it proposes fully hybrid Dobló and Ducato models along side its more traditional models. The case is the same regarding FIAT's filial partner Iveco having introduced the Daily Natural ...
4.4 Externalities: environment, noise, accidents, and traffic
In France, light commecial vehicles emit on average *.* times more green house gasses than heavy trucks. However average LCV emissions have been steadily decreasing. In fact, in *** LCVs emitted ***.*g of CO* per kilometer while today the figure is ***.*. The calculated environmental costs in France due to LCVs is estimated to ...
5 Regulation
5.1 Regulation
Commercial vehicles have a maximum weight of *.* tons or less. While private individuals can acquire this type of vehicle (***), they are more specifically intended for professionals, such as craftsmen or SMEs in general. While they retain the mechanical components of passenger cars, their monocoque structure is specific to accept larger volumes ...
5.2 European environmental norms
Euro-standards for heavy goods vehicles
Since the early ****s, several regulations have been made and implemented to combat the harmful impact of trucks on roads. Since ****, we have been talking about "Euro Standards". These standards impose limits on emissions of nitrogen oxides (***) and particles. As a result, pollutant emissions from vehicles ...
6 Positioning of the players
6.1 Segmentation
- Fiat Ducato
- Volkswagen Group
- La Poste
- UPS
- Véolia Groupe
- Nissan
- Daimler Trucks and Buses (Mercedes)
- Stellantis (Groupe PSA et Fiat)
- PSA Peugeot Citroen
- Opel (Stellantis)
- Isuzu
- Fuso
- Piaggio
- Maxus (Saic)
- Seat (Vokswagen group)
- Skoda (Vokswagen Group)
- Goupil (Polaris Group)
- Liberty Electric Motion LEM
- Navya
List of charts presented in this market study
- Marché mondial des mini-van et des VUL
- Pays ayant le plus grand nombre de VUL immatriculés en Europe
- Répartition des ventres de VUL par type de moteur
- Répartition du marché des VUL
- Importations, exportations et taux de couverture du marché des VUL
All our studies are available online in PDF format
Take a look at an example of our research on another market!
Latest news
50 million euros to be cut from local postal services - 29/09/2024
- - Budget cut for La Poste: €50 million out of €160 million
- - Duration of territorial postal presence contract: 2023-2025
- - Initial annual appropriations for the contract: 177 million euros
- - Number of La Poste outlets covered by the contract: 17,000
- - Population coverage by the postal network: over 97% of the population within 5 km or 20 minutes of a postal outlet
- - Investments in territories since 2008: over 2.4 billion euros
Meal delivery, La Poste's future main business within 10 years - 15/04/2024
- In 1990, mail accounted for 70% of La Poste's sales, but this figure will fall to 15% by the end of 2024.
- - The decline in mail over the last ten years has caused a loss of more than 6 billion euros in La Poste's sales.
- - La Poste has a 67% share of the domestic parcel delivery market in France, thanks to services such as Colissimo, Chronopost and DPD.
- - La Poste delivers over 15,000 meals a day in a market of 150,000 daily meals, making it the leading home delivery operator.
- - In 2023, La Poste delivered 5 million meals and plans to double this figure in 2024.
- - Currently, there are 7,000 post offices, with fewer than 5 customers a day in 40% of communal postal agencies, particularly in rural areas.
- - La Poste's mandate as postal operator expires at the end of 2025, and it intends to run for its own succession.
Orange, Free and Bouygues Telecom bid to acquire La Poste Mobile - 16/02/2024
- La Poste Mobile is France's 5th largest mobile operator, with around 2 million customers.
- - The total value of the operator is estimated at between 600 and 750 million euros.
- - La Poste Mobile has been in existence since 2011, distributing low-cost packages in around 7,000 post offices.
- - The operator has enjoyed strong growth, with an average increase of 8% per year.
- - SFR owns 49% of La Poste Mobile and leases its network to the operator.
- - La Poste Mobile is interested in using the networks of Orange, Bouygues or Free, instead of SFR.
- - La Poste wants the brand to continue to exist and be distributed in its 7,000 post offices.
La Poste Mobile - 17/01/2024
- La Poste Mobile was launched in 2011 by La Poste (with a 51% stake) and SFR (with a 49% stake).
- In the space of thirteen years, La Poste Mobile has become France's fifth-largest mobile telecoms operator, with over 2.3 million customers, or 4% of the French market.
- La Poste Mobile is distributed in some 7,000 post offices.
- Since its launch, La Poste Mobile has grown by 8% each year, outperforming the market.
- La Poste Mobile will be profitable in 2022. In 2024, its EBITDA is expected to reach 48 million euros, on sales of 336 million euros.
- Bouygues Telecom, another operator, has 15.4 million mobile customers.
- SFR lost 118,000 mobile subscribers in the third quarter, bringing its total to 20.4 million.
- Orange, France's leading operator, has 35.5 million mobile customers.
Veolia's plan for growth in energy - 13/01/2024
- The group already generates a quarter of its sales (just over 10 billion out of almost 43 billion euros in 2022) from the operation of heating networks, the recovery of energy from waste and wastewater, and energy-related services.
- The Group, which has positioned itself in the field of "decarbonizing local energy", estimates that it will be worth 500 billion euros in Europe by 2030
- Services related to energy efficiency in buildings and industry could represent a market worth 200 billion euros by 2030
- Green energy supply and heating/cooling networks could be worth 150 billion euros by 2030.
- The operation of heating networks is Veolia's main energy business (revenues of 5.9 billion euros in 2022),
- Veolia operates more than 500 networks.
Stellantis takes a radical turn in China. - 09/12/2023
- Signature of a strategic partnership with Chinese automotive start-up Leapmotor.
- Stellantis will acquire a stake of around 21% in the company for a total of 1.5 billion euros.
- The two companies will also set up a joint venture, Leapmotor International, 51% owned by Stellantis.
- Based in the Netherlands, it will "have exclusive rights to manufacture, export and sell Leapmotor products outside China"
- The Leapmotor International joint venture is targeting 500,000 sales outside China by 2030.
- Deliveries from the Leapmotor International joint venture are scheduled to begin in the second half of 2024.
- Stellantis terminated its joint venture with Guangzhou Automobile Group (GAC) in July 2022.
- Stellantis sold three local plants to the Chinese group Dongfeng.
Companies quoted in this study
This study contains a complete overview of the companies in the market, with the latest figures and news for each company. :
Choosing this study means :
Access to more than 35 hours of work
Our studies are the result of over 35 hours of research and analysis. Using our studies allows you to devote more time and added value to your projects.
Benefit from 6 years' experience and over 1,500 industry reports already produced
Our expertise enables us to produce comprehensive studies in all sectors, including niche and emerging markets.
Our know-how and methodology enable us to produce reports that offer unique value for money.
Access to several thousand articles and paid-for data
Businesscoot has access to all the paid economic press as well as exclusive databases to carry out its market research (over 30,000 articles and private sources).
To enhance our research, our analysts also use web indicators (semrush, trends, etc.) to identify market trends and company strategies. (Consult our paying sources)
Guaranteed support after your purchase
A team dedicated to after-sales service, to guarantee you a high level of satisfaction. +44 238 097 0676
A digital format designed for our users
Not only do you have access to a PDF, but also to a digital version designed for our customers. This version gives you access to sources, data in Excel format and graphics. The content of the study can therefore be easily retrieved and adapted for your specific needs.
Our offers :
the light commercial vehicle market (LCV) | France
- What are the figures on the size and growth of the market?
- What is driving the growth of the market and its evolution?
- What is the positioning of companies in the value chain?
- Data from several dozen databases
Pack 5 études (-15%) France
- 5 études au prix de 75,6€HT par étude à choisir parmi nos 800 titres sur le catalogue France pendant 12 mois
- Conservez -15% sur les études supplémentaires achetées
- Choisissez le remboursement des crédits non consommés au terme des 12 mois (durée du pack)
Consultez les conditions du pack et de remboursement des crédits non consommés.
Our customer references
They have consulted our studies
Discover the opinions (+500)
Malcolm Vincent
Astoria Finance
Gregoire de Castelnau
Stags Participations
Timothé Huignard
PWC
Paul-Alexis Kebabtchieff
BCG
Aymeric Granet
Publicis Consultant
interviews & case studies
All interviews and case studies (45)
