PSA Peugeot Citroen has posted first-half sales of assembled vehicles down 1.1% to 1.46m units, with southern Europe and German difficulties contributing to the fall.
PSA highlighted the volatile nature of the European market with continued contraction as France dropped 11%, Spain, 5% and Italy, 11%, while Germany also reported a decline of 8% for the period. In contrast however, the UK market grew by 10%.
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The automaker was not aided either by the ending of 142,000 CKD units to Iran as a result of international sanctions that have restricted access to banking finance.
In Europe, in a car and light commercial vehicle market that declined by 7%, PSA sold a total of 855,000 vehicles, down 13% compared with first-half 2012. The Group’s share of the market came to 12.2%, compared to 12.9% in the prior-year period.
PSA attributed the fall to an unfavourable market mix, with the countries in which it has the greatest presence, those whose automobile markets are experiencing the sharpest declines, such as France, Italy and Spain.
On the other hand, the Group is benefiting from growth in the UK automobile market, where its sales rose by 10% and its market share stood at 9.3%.
In Europe, PSA also highlighted an unfavourable channel mix in the first quarter, when the percentage of sales to individuals declined compared with sales to fleet operators, a segment in which the Group’s presence is generally less significant and a 7% contraction in the light commercial vehicle market.
In the rest of the world, the Group’s sales rose by 23%, led by the Peugeot 301 and the Citroën C-Elysée. In Algeria, for example, registrations rose by more than 66% to 58,400 units, lifting PSA’s market share to 22.8%.
In Turkey, the Group sold more than 30,100 vehicles, an increase of more than 20% compared with first-half 2012, in a market that expanded by 11.5%.
