French December new car sales rise 5.8 percent

PARIS, Jan 2 Reuters reported that French new passenger car sales rose 5.8 percent in December, pushing annual sales for 2001 to their strongest level in just over a decade, the French carmakers committee CCFA said on Wednesday.

With French consumer demand holding strong amid weakness elsewhere in Europe, new registrations rose to 160,248 vehicles in December from 151,492 in the same month a year earlier.

Sales for the full-year were up 5.7 percent to 2,254,733 units -- the strongest performance since 1990.

French carmakers saw their share of the domestic market push up to 60.4 percent from 59.1 percent during the year.

Sales of PSA Peugeot Citroen, riding high thanks to the popularity of the sporty compact Peugeot 307 and smaller 206, rose 18.1 percent to 58,494 units in December. Renault sales edged up 3.6 percent from a year earlier to 39,130 units.