the French market grew by 5% in the first half

The French new car market grew in June by just over 9% year-on-year, showing growth of almost 5% in the first six months of 2018, according to official figures published by manufacturers. Sunday.

In volume, the market absorbed in June 252,222 new cars, taking advantage of a very dynamic activity on the side of the French manufacturers which compensated a blow of brake at the foreign constructors, as shows the Committee of the French manufacturers (CCFA) in its monthly publication. "We had a rather exceptional month of June," commented a CCFA spokesman.

Outperforming the targets

Over the first six months of the year, new car registrations totaled close to 1.19 million compared to 1.13 million in the first half of last year. This result is well above the CCFA target of around 2% growth for 2018, but the second half is traditionally less dynamic. "It is expected that there will be fewer registrations in the second half," said a spokesman for the CCFA AFP.

In detail, the best performances were signed in June by the PSA group (+ 19%). PSA posted a 17% jump over six months, driven by its DS and Peugeot brands (+ 20% and + 8% respectively), which offset a soft spot at Citroën (-0.38%).

Renault group accelerated by almost 16% in June. Over six months, the group posted growth of 6.5%, helped mainly by its low-cost brand Dacia (+ 21%) and to a lesser extent by the diamond brand (+ 2%).

Manufacturers strangers to punishment

Foreign manufacturers, on the other hand, suffered a slowdown, with a decline of just over 4% over six months. The situation is however very contrasted from one manufacturer to another. Trademark registrations of the German group Volkswagen, the largest foreign manufacturer in France, rose by 15% in June and 2.18% over the first six months of 2018, supported by the VW brands (+ 3% over six months). , Skoda (+ 22%) and Seat (+ 18%), while the Audi ring brand is struggling (-14%).

Among other groups shaped, Toyota (+ 6%), Fiat Chrysler (+ 20%) and Hyundai (+ 22%) performed particularly well over six months compared to the same period in 2017.

In contrast, the BMW group has stalled for six months (- 0.14%) due to a decline in its main brand and despite the good performance of its other brand Mini. The Ford group also lost ground (-4.5%), as did the Nissan group (-15%).

Source AFP

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