Two French carmakers see drop in assembled vehicles

• Source: Global Times
• [17:04 August 06 2009]
• Comments

French auto giants Citroen and Renault are faced with rapid shrinking of their production of locally-assembled vehicles, with a total of only 690,000 units in the first half of 2009, dropping by 40 percent due to the financial crisis and production transfers from home to overseas, according to the latest data.

The number of assembled cars from the two companies both dropped in the first six months: assembled family vehicles by 36.5 percent; assembled utility vehicles by 56 percent; and assembled heavy vehicles by 64 percent. Renault is suffering a more severe plunge.

Citroen and Renault have sold a total of 612,000 family vehicles in the first half of this year, proving that the financial crisis was not the sole reason causing the slide. The transfer of production from home to overseas is the primary cause. Renault now only assembles 21 percent of its cars in France.

Agencies and Wang Lei contributed to this story