Domestics Continue to Perform Well in May As French Market Recovers

PARIS – May sales in France followed the pattern established earlier in the spring, in which French brands improved while others declined as a group.

The market for passenger vehicles, at 148,573 units, basically was a wash, up 0.1%. That dragged year-to-date growth down to 3.0%.

Renault posted an 8.5% gain in May, and its low-cost Dacia brand was up 10.8%. At PSA Peugeot Citroen, Peugeot was up 3.6% and Citroen 4.3%. Year-to-date, the Renault group is up 12.7% and PSA 6.8%.

Bernard Cambier, Renault’s sales director in France, says the May results “permit us to envision the coming months with confidence.”

The relatively fast pace of growth to date for the French brands likely will slow as the year unfolds, because current sales are being compared with a particularly slow start in 2013. Both companies started recovering later in 2013 when Renault introduced its Captur and new Clio and Peugeot launched the 308.

Among the non-French volume makers, Korea’s Hyundai Group is suffering considerably, down 29% on the year and 20% in May, despite a 5.3% increase by Kia in the month. The Hyundai brand is selling only half as many cars as a year earlier.

Chevrolet, which basically is a Korean brand in Europe, is also down by half, as General Motors has announced it is dropping the marque here. Some dealers are fighting the decision in courts.

Opel deliveries rose 9.3% in May and are ahead 5% on the year, although the gains have not been enough to match the sales lost by Chevrolet.

Both the Toyota and Nissan groups remain ahead of the market after five months, despite declines in May.

Fiat Group remains even with the market – up 0.2% – thanks to sales of Jeep models and Lancias based on Chryslers. The Fiat brand itself was down in May and is off 6.2% for the year’s first five months.

Volkswagen Group, by far the biggest non-French competitor, gained 0.9% in May, which reduced its 5-month deficit to 1.6%. Ford, the second best-selling import brand in France, also is clawing its way back toward even, with plus sales of 6.7% in May, bringing the to-date deficit to 2.6%.

Audi remained at the head of the German luxury brands in France, with 5,257 deliveries in May, followed by Mercedes Benz at 4,313. BMW sales were off 18.0% to 3,229. Year-to-date, all three trail their 2013 sales pace.