Renault has said that vehicle sales and revenues fell in the first quarter as conditions in Europe were tougher than expected. However, it also said that it continued to expand in markets outside of Europe.

In the first quarter, Renault vehicle sales fell 4.7% on last year to 608,455 units and Renault Group revenues totalled EUR8,265m, down 11.8% year on year.

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Renault said that the 4.7% slide to Q1 sales reflected the continued slide of the European market. However, it also said that group sales continued to expand outside Europe (50% of registrations compared with 46% in the first quarter of 2012), achieving a 3.5% increase in volumes despite a five-week production stoppage in Brazil because of work to expand capacity at the Curitiba plant.

New Clio and New Sandero, launched at end-2012, enjoyed continued commercial success, Renault said. Duster, which is spearheading Renault’s international expansion drive, is now the Group’s biggest-selling model worldwide.

In Europe, where the market was tougher than expected (-10.0 %), particularly in France (-13.9 %), registrations declined 11.6 % in Q1. The group’s market share fell 0.2 points to 8.9%, impacted in part by the restructuring of the product line-up in the UK, Renault said. 

In the Americas Region, registrations were down 8.0% in markets that grew 1.6%. The decline followed the shut-down at the Brazilian plant in Curitiba to conduct work to expand the facility’s annual capacity from 280,000 to 380,000 units. As a result, registrations in Brazil fell 18.6%, ahead of an expected recovery in Q2. In Argentina, they increased by 1.6% in a market that contracted 0.4%.

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Still aiming for positive operating margin on auto operations in 2013

Renault also said that it is still aiming for a positive operating margin on its automotive operations this year, despite the weak start.

In Europe, the company is targeting market share growth with new product launches (Captur, ZOE, Clio Estate, New Logan) and the full impact of the products launched at the end of 2012 (New Clio and New Sandero) with a “sustainable pricing policy”.