Registrations of new vehicles built by Renault were down 17.1% in the European Union in January-June, at 570,959 units. The Renault brand fell by 19.6%, according to data presented Tuesday by the Association of European Automobile Producers (ACEA).
Dacia, part of the Renault group, delivered around 7,500 fewer vehicles to the EU in the first semester, with 120,078 registrations compared with 127,588 in the same period of last year. Still, the brand’s decline of 5.9% was less steep than that of the European market, which shrunk by 6.8% from 7.13 million to 6.64 million new registered cars.
Among the main car makers, German giant Volkswagen had the best performance, as registrations of its cars dipped only 1.5% to 1.59 million units.
The second-largest European producer, PSA Peugeot Citroen reported a 13.9% drop in EU registrations, which declined from 938,817 to 808,660 units. The company has announced plans to shut down a plant in Aulnay, France, reduce production in another unit and lay off 14,000 employees because of weak sales in Europe.
American group General Motors, which sells the Opel and Chevrolet brands in Europe, posted a 10.8% decline in deliveries to the EU in the first half of the year, or 560,934 units. GM recently stated it would close the Opel factory in Bochum, Germany within two years.
Ford registrations dropped 10.4% to 517,094 units, while Fiat, with its Lancia, Chrysler, Alfa Romeo and Jeep brands, reported a 17.1% drop to 445,229 units.
Toyota registrations decreased 1.8% in Europe to 276,996 units.
BMW deliveries dipped by 1% to 404,771 units, while Mercedes Benz remained flat at 330,000 units.
Registrations of new Audi vehicles climbed by 4.5% to 362,038 units.