Car sales in France for the month of April were 5.2% off last year, a rate of decline that has led some to suggest the market contraction may be bottoming.
April car sales fell 5.2% year-on-year to 157,859 units, the Paris-based CCFA industry association said. Car sales in the first four months are down 12.3%.
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The 5.2% drop certainly looks better than the performance of the French car market in recent months. In March the drop on last year was 16.4%, leaving the first quarter down nearly 15%.
“The plunge seems to be halting after the double-digit declines of previous months,” CCFA spokesman Francois Roudier told Reuters.
Some analysts have noted that the additional sales day in April this year masks a bigger fall and that the comparison against last year will increasingly be against a weaker base as the year progresses.
French car sales in April fell 9.7% when corrected for such calendar effects, the CCFA said.
