French New Car Sales Drop 33.6% in January

02/05/97

Reuters reports that France saw its domestic new car sales in France fall 33.6% year-on-year in January. In a statement, the French carmakers association (CCFA) said that the drop reflected a weak market, but also some distortions: "this sharp drop confirms the trend observed since November 1996 when the effects of the expiry of the (state rebate programme) Prime Qualite began to be felt."

In terms of Provisional volume, new French car sales totalled 122,552 in January, compared with 184,541 in January of the previous year. The CCFA attributed the higher figure in January 1996 to a sales spurt that followed a three week public transportation workers strike in November and December, 1995. A CCFA spokesman said January 1996 car sales were artificially inflated by about 20,000 units due to a spillover of 1995 orders.

The CCFA also said demand in January 1996 was based on a year-long new-cars-for-old government rebate program that didn't expire until the end of September 1996.

PSA Peugeot Citroen's car sales dropped 43% to 29,829 units, while Renault SA sales dropped 29.3% to 35,622 for the month. Additionally, French carmakers lost market share on a year-on-year basis: they captured 53.4 percent of the market last month, compared to the 55.7 percent they held in January 1996.

The best performers in the French market were Volvo, whose car sales rose 23 percent year-on-year in January, and GM's Opel, which saw a 10.7 percent sales drop from the same month of the previous year. Opel's decline was the smallest drop among any of Europe's Big Six mass auto producers.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel