French, German auto sales weaken in June 03/07/2007 00:00

PARIS, July 3, 2007 (AFP) - Sales of new cars declined by 3.2 percent in France last month compared with June 2006 and by 7.0 percent in Germany, manufacturers' associations said Tuesday.

In France the committee of automobile manufacturers said sales of Renault cars fell 13.5 percent while those of rival PSA Peugeot Citroen were down 1.4 percent.

Foreign makes saw sales increase by 3.2 percent.

But the committee added that based on a comparable number of working days, overall French sales in June rose 1.4 percent.

Registrations of French-made new cars in June came to 117,800, or 54.4 percent of the market.

In Germany the national auto sector federation said sales in June fell 7.0 percent over 12 months to 301,000 units.

The federation also lowered its sales forecast this year to 3.2 million units from 3.3 million. Sales in 2006 came to 3.46 million.

Copyright AFP

Subject: French news