France’s November auto sales soar nearly 50%

• Source: Global Times
• [11:19 December 02 2009]
• Comments

Auto sales in France last month reached 216,452 units, up 48.4 percent from a year earlier, the country’s Car Makers Association (CCFA) said Tuesday.

It's a successive increase after 14.1 percent growth in September and 20.1 percent in October.

PSA Peugeot Citroen sold 70,768 vehicles in November, an increase of 65.5 percent year-on-year, and Renault sales rose 40 percent to 49,067 units last month. The Romanian car manufacturer Dacia had a 90.4 percent increase in the French market.

During the first 11 months in 2009, over 2.04 million new car plates were registered in France, up 9.8 percent from a year earlier. Meanwhile, domestic French cars took a 54.2 percent market share, up 1.1 percent year-on-year.

But as the "cash-for-clunkers" subsidies are going to expire in 2010, Guillaume Mouren, an analyst with Xerfi, France's major provider of sector market analyses, predicted a 10 percent decline for next year's new car sales.

Agencies and Shi Jierui contributed to this story