French new car sales tumbled in January as jitters over potential war in Iraq made consumers think twice about splashing out on pricey items, the industry body said on Monday, according to Reuters.
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Reuters reported that the car making association CCFA said sales of new cars fell to 175,175 units in January from 192,089 in the same 2002 period, when French motorists bought more cars than in any other month for 10 years.
The drop comes after sales in December dipped 0.5%, or 5.9% on a comparable business days basis, bringing the fall for 2002 to 4.9%, in line with industry forecasts, Reuters said.
Domestic car making duo Renault and PSA Peugeot Citroen saw combined sales fall 11.2% as foreign manufacturers continued to gain market share, Reuters said.
According to Reuters, Renault had moved ahead of its rival in December, with the arrival of the redesigned Megane II boosting sales by over 12%.
But sales of Renault cars fell 14.9% in January, with its market share slipping as the hype that followed the launch of the Megane appeared to fizzle, Reuters said.
PSA saw home market sales in France fall 8.4% in January though its market share nudged up, Reuters reported.
The news agency said that troubled Fiat saw sales of its Fiat brand in France slump by 29%, while total sales by foreign car makers dipped only 5.1% as they boosted their market share to more than 40%.
According to Reuters, CCFA also said on Monday that French car makers produced 5.64 million vehicles in 2002 – an increase of 1.4% compared with 2001. Car production edged 2.9% higher, while the number of light utility vehicles built fell 8.5%.
