Renault Drives French Market to September Gain

PARIS – Renault’s sales revival alone helped pull France to a 3.4% increase in registrations by volume in September, the second month this year to show improvement.

Renault and its Dacia subsidiary delivered 37,940 cars during the month, 5,815 units, or 18.1%, more than a year earlier.

Sales industrywide jumped 4,675 units to 142,211, according to the CCFA, the automakers’ association here.

On a daily basis, French deliveries fell 1.5%, but that still is a plus for a market that was off 9.9% after eight months. Car sales remained down 8.5% for the year, but the CCFA is confident demand will continue to improve and the organization’s prediction for the year of limiting the decline to 8% now is easily in reach.

“We think the market finally hit bottom,” says CCFA spokesman Francois Roudier.

Various executives at the Frankfurt auto show in September, including Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, predicted the European market is ready to grow again.

France’s largest automaker, PSA Peugeot Citroen, suffered another negative month, with car sales down 6.8% for September. Still, the month’s figures were better than the year-to-date decline of 12% for the brand.

Renault’s new Clio and Captur cross/utility vehicle and the Dacia Sandero are leading the growth. By brand, Renault improved 19.3% and now is down just 6% for the year, and Dacia was up 11.1% in September, boosting its year-over-year gain to 7.3%.

Dacia has become something of a fashion in France. Last summer, 15,000 people attended a picnic for Dacia owners and their families, 25% more than in 2012. The annual gathering started five years ago as a grassroots event with 4,000 people, and since then the automaker has taken over organizing the picnic.

The Volkswagen, Toyota, BMW, Daimler and Fiat groups all had positive sales in September.

A 38.3% increase for the Mercedes-Benz and Smart brands brought Daimler’s yearly total on a par with 2012 levels. Delivery of several models had been held up for more than a month in a dispute over the air-conditioning coolant Daimler uses, but a court decided France was wrong to stop sales just because Daimler uses a gas not authorized by the European Union.

Fiat’s 17.2% growth in September brought it to a 2.2% gain for the year. The 9-month totals at BMW and the Volkswagen Group remained behind last years’ levels, while Toyota’s 9.4% improvement in September raised its year-to-date gain to 6.8%.

General Motors, Ford, Nissan and Hyundai all sold fewer cars last month than in September 2012, but GM and Ford improved their year-to-date pictures, while Nissan and Hyundai lost share. Hyundai Group still is running 0.3% ahead of last year, however, thanks to Kia sales that rose 5.2% in September and 1.4% for the year.

France remains a good market for domestic brands, with nine of the top 10 nameplates being French. Renault and PSA controlled 54.1% of the market in September, and 53.5% for the first nine months.