The incentives follow announcements of government plans to promote the domestic production of battery-powered cars as well as car batteries.

PSA and FCA together sold 554,356 light-commercial vehicles in 2020,  while No. 2 Ford sold 287,801. The EU had raised antitrust concerns about commercial van market share ahead of the merger.

Alfa Romeo had the biggest monthly gain, followed by Peugeot, Hyundai, Opel and Tesla. Among the losers were Honda, Mitsubishi and Jaguar.

Automakers filled up their order books and ramped up production, although executives are less optimistic about the outlook for the coming months.