Sales of new cars fell 11.2% year-on-year to 169,453 units in April according to the latest industry data released by the CCFA.
April’s decline brought the sales increase in the French market for the first four months of this year to 4% at 816,907 units sold, CCFA said.
Taking into account one more working day in April last year than last month, the decline was 6.8%, the CCFA said.
The French car market is turning down after being boosted in the early part of the year by car orders placed at the end of 2010 as buyers took advantage of the French scrappage scheme ahead of expiration.
Industry analysts project that the French car market could fall by as much as 10% this year.
The Renault Group saw a 19.1% drop in registrations of its cars in April (41,483 units), with those of the Renault brand down 23.5% while Dacia sales were up 6.6%.

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By GlobalDataFrench market car sales for PSA Peugeot-Citroen were also heavily down in April, off 21.1% on last year at 49,935 units.
The French makes accounted for 54% of the car market in April and 58.4% of the market in the first four months of the year.