September Sales Extend Sluggish Year in France

PARIS – Car sales in France showed little movement in September but were shored up by Renault, which has blamed its year-to-date decline in its home market on a lack of engines.

Auto makers registered 167,631 cars in the month, down 1.4% from like-2010. Renault-Dacia deliveries totaled 47,970, up 8.7% and good for a 28.6% market share.

Clio sales leader in France in September.

For light-utility vehicles, sales slipped 6.6% to 34,367 units and Renault Group was off 6.5% to 12,704 units, but the auto maker says that as a group, it had its best performance in eight years, taking 30.0% of the market.

Renault car sales jumped 23% from year-ago. The Clio was France’s best-selling car in September, and Renault says it leads the first three segments, with the Twingo in A, Clio in B and Megane in C.

Car sales slumped 18.1% last month at PSA Peugeot Citroen, with Peugeot plunging 25.3% and Citroen down 9.4%.

September deliveries dropped PSA into the negative column year-to-date, slipping 0.6%. Despite a good month for Renault-Dacia, sales have declined 9.5% on the year.

“Beyond the monthly performance, which we expected, we are very satisfied with the orders taken in September,” says Bernard Cambier, sales director-France.

French customers generally support home-market auto makers, and French cars account for 60% of the total market year-to-date.

The top eight vehicles are French brands, ahead of the Volkswagen Polo, Dacia Duster, Ford Fiesta, Volkswagen Golf and Opel Corsa.

Volkswagen continues to forge ahead in France, with a 12.7% market share and a 14.9% year-over-year hike in September car deliveries.

Other big gainers for the month are Nissan, spiking 30.8%, and Hyundai, rising 15.4%. Sales by each of those auto makers are up by double digits year-to-date, in a stagnant market up 0.2% overall to 1,661,376 units.