New car sales in France are expected to decline 8% this year instead of earlier forecasts of a 10% fall after the end of scrappage incentives. The revised forecast follows a better-than-expected sales performance in the first quarter.
Auto makers’ association CCFA said new passenger car sales in March rose 6.1% from the same month a year ago to 257,631 vehicles. Registrations during the first quarter rose 8.9% year-on-year to 647,552 cars. Registrations of cars assembled by foreign companies rose 14% in March to 107,728.
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“We expected car sales and orders would plummet in January after the end of the car scrapping bonus,” Patrick Blain, CCFA president, said.
“The decline was gradual during the first quarter, which will mean better overall figures for the year than previously expected,” he added.
In 2010, new-car registrations totaled 2.2m vehicles, roughly in line with the average of the past 10 years but down from 2.3 million in 2009, when the incentives, which allowed car owners to trade in their old models for new ones, started.
Registrations of new cars made by Peugeot-Citroen rose 13.5% in March, while sales at Renault fell 12.4% due to supply problems, company spokeswoman Rie Yamane said.
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By GlobalDataSome of Renault’s suppliers cut capacity at their factories and weren’t ready to increase output when the market rebounded, she said. Additionally, Renault had made the decision to reduce its stocks of cars as a way to cut costs, she added.
She said Renault was likely to suffer some supply disruptions as a result of the Japan earthquake and tsunami though it was too early to gauge the impact on production.
“The shipping of parts from Japan takes between four and six weeks and our people are seeking solutions,” she said.
Renault previously has announced it would cut output from its plant in Busan, South Korea.
Peugeot said its production of diesel engines was disrupted by a shortage of electronic components from Japan’s Hitachi Automotive Systems Ltd. though the company expects production in Europe to return to normal this week.
