What conclusions can we draw from 2025?
Guirec Grand-Clément - The short-term hire market accounts for around 10% of vehicle registrations in France, which was still the case in 2025. Although car hire companies do not disclose the size of their fleets, the registration figures for international chains, independent car hire companies and franchises are publicly available. Cumulative registrations over the first ten months rose by 8.21TP3Q compared with the same period in 2024, with a sharp increase in the 3th quarter 2025, of +32% in September and October. November followed the same trend, and was even slightly higher. This increase is the result of opportunities with carmakers to anticipate the malus scheme, which will be considerably tougher in 2026. If registrations are increasing, we can assume that the size of the fleet is also growing, even if car hire companies are not disclosing outgoings, which depend on the agreements that each company has with manufacturers. Buy-back agreements can be for 6, 7 or 8 months, or even 12 months or more for commercial vehicles. Some vehicles are also bought and sold directly by the leasing companies.
How did the market perform last year?
Guirec Grand-Clément - The leisure market remains seasonal, centred on the summer period and school holidays such as Christmas. November, January, February and March are the slow periods for this segment. Fortunately for us, the business market takes over outside the school holidays. September and especially October-November, as well as January-February, are still big months for vehicle rentals by the business market. We shouldn't forget a third market, which is less talked about but which is important because of its volumes and stability over the year: replacement vehicles. For example, when your car breaks down. This market also grows during the summer period, as French people travel more.
Has the business market grown?
Guirec Grand-Clément - I don't have the overall figures for our industry. As far as Enterprise is concerned, there was a very slight increase in the business market compared with 2024, a year that was not much affected by the Paris Olympic Games. Although there was a slight drop in business travel at the end of June/beginning of July 2024, this was offset by contracts signed with Olympic committees or companies involved in the organisation of the Games. This small increase in business activity in 2025 does not mean that the market is doing well, as the political, budgetary and other uncertainties are clearly not encouraging companies to invest or to travel, particularly to canvass new customers. Domestic customers are a little more resilient than international customers, but not very buoyant either.
Has this situation enabled us to maintain reasonable rental rates?
Guirec Grand-Clément - This is a point I can't go into. Competition between hire companies is fierce and rates fluctuate according to the period. BtoB or business contracts are also multi-year contracts. As far as leisure vehicles are concerned, we had a good summer season, with price levels that are no longer what they were two or three years ago, when car hire companies were faced with a shortage of vehicles. In this segment, prices traditionally fluctuate according to supply and demand, with differences between international markets.
What is the average rental period for the business market?
Guirec Grand-Clément - We estimate this to be between 3.5 and 4 days, with a trend towards a very slight increase due to the small growth in this market. Typically, these rentals run from Tuesday to Thursday or from Monday afternoon to Thursday afternoon.
Are these rentals still centred on stations and airports?
Guirec Grand-Clément - Yes, intermodality is still the main reason for hiring a vehicle in the business market. And this is increasingly the case at branches located in stations rather than airports. If you take the example ofOrlySince Covid, the Paris hub has been transformed from an essentially corporate airport to one serving mainly leisure destinations. Following the closure of the Bordeaux-Orly shuttle service, which accounted for 550,000 passengers a year, and of the Lyon-Orly and Nantes-Orly services, which each accounted for 100,000 passengers, the situation will not improve with the departure of Air France at the end of March 2026. This will have a major impact, even though some routes will be taken over by its subsidiary Transavia. But with undoubtedly fewer frequencies as on Orly-Marseille. Finally, we mustn't forget the rentals operated locally for business reasons, but which are not carried out following a train or plane journey. Some local agencies have significant business activity thanks to regional players or national companies with a strong presence in the region.
What do you expect in terms of services?
Guirec Grand-Clément - For the corporate sector, the demand remains the same: a transaction that is as quick and efficient as possible. Enterprise is therefore continuing to introduce services to avoid the need for a counter visit, so that our frequent travellers can collect their vehicle directly from the car park. We are pushing for the adoption of this collection option. The other project involves the installation of connected key boxes to manage these customers outside opening hours at certain branches, such as those at Montparnasse and Lyon stations in Paris. This will cater for business travellers whose trains arrive at the station at 10 or 11pm. These are typical of the services we will be developing to offer our corporate customers the maximum range of hours and flexibility.
Has demand for electric vehicles increased?
Guirec Grand-Clément - Things have changed on the corporate market. The Finance Act 2025 stipulated that companies subject to the LOM, the law on the orientation of mobilitycompanies, i.e. those with more than 100 vehicles in their fleet, were able to include in their annual reporting their purchases of electric vehicles, as well as the long-term and now short-term electric vehicle leases taken out by their employees for business purposes. It has taken some time for companies to implement this, but they are now more interested in electric vehicles. In the first ten months of the year, 10% of registrations by rental companies were electric vehicles, compared with 2% in 2024. In the leisure segment, demand for electric vehicles is increasing slightly, particularly in large urban areas. However, everything remains to be done when it comes to replacement vehicles.
The increase in the number of terminals is helping to lift the brakes on electric ?
Guirec Grand-Clément - Yes, there are more charging points and the recharging network has been expanded for roaming customers. In May 2025, there were some 168,000 charging points open to the public in France. That's 79% more in 14 months. Almost all motorway stations are equipped with fast or even ultra-fast charging points. There may be a bit of a wait during peak periods, and the cost of recharging is higher, but motorway stations have never been cheap. It's worth noting that, in addition to electric vehicles, manufacturers are now mainly selling hybrids, to the detriment of petrol, diesel and plug-in hybrids.
Where does thecar sharingone of your competitors having stopped its service in Paris?
Guirec Grand-Clément - According to the Association des Acteurs de l'Autopartage, there were almost 14,000 dedicated car-sharing vehicles in France at the beginning of 2025, a figure that had risen by 3.7% compared with the previous year. While car-sharing for the general public has undoubtedly not made much headway, it is continuing to develop for businesses and public authorities. As far as Enterprise is concerned, we were not present in the BtoC market because we were not convinced by the business model. Our Enterprise Car Share service is specifically designed for companies that have a recent low- or zero-emission fleet available for their employees 24 hours a day. After a study, the fleet is specifically sized to meet their needs at one or more sites. A 100 % digital reservation system guarantees higher vehicle utilisation rates. This self-service fleet, managed and maintained by Enterprise, is a guarantee of flexibility and, above all, savings for companies. With the government's recent decision to aim for a national fleet of 70,000 shared vehicles by 2031, car-sharing is set to become a central pillar of sustainable mobility in the future.
What does 2026 look like?
Guirec Grand-Clément - On the European inbound leisure market, one unknown factor is the possible consequences of the March increase in tax on air tickets departing from France. Ryanair for example, is threatening to pull out of Brive, Bergerac and Strasbourg. This would have an impact on rentals at these airports.
The political and budgetary environment is also particularly uncertain. This has an impact on the economic activity of companies, but also on public procurement. And yet we have a part of our industry that responds to the demands of public procurement markets that are on the back foot or in a waiting position. Having a budget for France for 2026 will help public authorities to have their own budget.
Last but not least, our concerns relate to the tightening of the scale for the ecological penalty, which came into force on 1 January.er The new tax, introduced on 1 January, includes a CO2 tax and a weight tax. The French automotive platform, which brings together manufacturers and equipment suppliers, estimates that two-thirds of new vehicles sold in France will be damaged this year. This French specificity within Europe will have an impact on our business, our purchases and the recycling of these vehicles. A €200 penalty can be amortised over 6 to 8 months, but it becomes much more difficult when it rises to €600, 700, 800 or even more. Will we have the same number of these vehicles this year? Will we keep them in our fleet for longer? This will be our big challenge for 2026.
Will this encourage you to make your fleet even greener?
Guirec Grand-Clément - Yes and no. Our type of vehicle is influenced by two factors. Firstly, our customers. If they don't want electric vehicles, there's no point in forcing their hand, as was the case in 2023, when rental companies bought too many electric vehicles. The vehicles were not taken up by the public and remained in our car parks. Our objective is to have the right vehicle for the right customer. Car manufacturers then influence our purchases. Even though the European Union has given up on the 100% electric by 2035 by reducing this threshold to 90%, manufacturers are also greening their production through us. But as I said, it's difficult to go beyond what our customers really want. So we're going to continue to buy mainly hybrid vehicles, vehicles that emit less CO2 and, of course, electric vehicles, in order to have as low a malus impact as possible. And, more than the reduction in the CO2 tax threshold from 113 to 108 g/km, it is the weight of the vehicle that will have the biggest impact on this new penalty, with a threshold set at 1500 kg compared with 1600 kg previously. Once again, and to conclude, this new tax is the biggest unknown factor for 2026, which will have an impact on the profile and size of fleets and the length of time leasing companies hold their vehicles.
