By Tom Pfeiffer
PARIS, Sept 26 (Reuters) - French carmaker Renault SA expects its European sales to decline by around two percent this year as it grabs a bigger share of a shrinking market, Executive Vice President Pierre-Alain de Smedt said.
"Our market share is increasing across Europe, so we will see a decline that is less than the market average," de Smedt told Reuters in an interview on Thursday at the Paris motor show. "We will nonetheless still be down by about two percent, or two-point-something."
Renault has been rolling out new models across its line-up, including the Laguna II hatchback, the Vel Satis luxury saloon and the eagerly anticipated Megane mid-sized car, which hits the market this autumn.
Progress at the half-year point, thanks to its renewed range of larger, more expensive cars, and higher sales of more profitable diesel-powered cars, has encouraged the company to raise its estimates for its operating margin in the full year.
The company is also benefitting from the collapse of sales at its Italian peer Fiat SpA , which has helped boost Renault's market share.
De Smedt added that the slowdown in the European auto market has hit home hardest on sales of bigger, pricier cars, which are more sensitive to swings in the economy.
He also said that Renault's latest three-year, three-billion-euro cost-cutting programme, currently in its second year, was progressing "as smoothly as a Swiss clock".
"The figures I have now, at the end of September, give the amount of second billion," de Smedt said.
"If you want a little detail, though its of secondary importance, I'd say we were a little in advance this year on the procurement side and a litte behind on the commercial side."
Renault, with its Japanese alliance partner Nissan Motor Co , is refocusing its assembly processes around common platforms which will allow both companies to buy parts in bigger quantities and more cheaply.
The platforms for small and mid-size cars, dubbed "B" and "C" are already designed and up and running. A third "D" platform is also planned for larger cars from the two companies, and de Smedt said its development was progressing rapidly.
"I think we will be in a position by the beginning of next year to announce the birth...of this third platform," he said.
(Additional reporting by Jean-Michel Belot)