France was a pioneer in the automotive industry and is the 11th-largest automobile manufacturer in the world by 2015 unit production and the third-largest in Europe (after Germany and Spain).[1][2][3][4][5][6][7] It had consistently been the 4th-largest from the end of World War II up to 2000. It is 16% of sales of French manufactured products.
France is home to two major automaking companies:
Additional lesser automotive manufacturers in France include:
The France-based Renault Trucks is a major producer of commercial vehicles and is owned by Volvo. Both PSA and Renault produce a large number of vehicles outside France. French automotive manufacturers were long dominant in francophone Africa, but beginning in the 1970s the Japanese were making inroads due to lower prices and the availability of suitable light offroad cars and trucks.[8]
French-designed cars have won the European Car of the Year and World Car of the Year awards numerous times. The Citroën DS took third place in Car of the Century award and has been named the most beautiful car of all time by Classic & Sports Car magazine.[9][10]
OICA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).WMVD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).RITA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).FREY was invoked but never defined (see the help page).IMF2000 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).UAM was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Mich was invoked but never defined (see the help page).