French auto sales plunge 11% in August

Sales of new cars in France plunged by nearly 11 percent in August, erasing a small rebound the previous month, trade data showed on Monday. Sales slumped to 85,565 vehicles in the traditionally slow month when many French go on vacation, a drop of 6.7 percent when adjusted for the number of working days, according to the CCFA body representing manufacturers. Sales had risen by 0.9 percent in July in unadjusted terms. "We're at record low levels" for the summer period, said Flavien Neuvy at consumer credit company Cetelem. Most manufacturers in all segments saw sales fall. Renault was able to buck the trend thanks to the release of two new models to record a 1.7 percent increase. US manufacturer General Motors saw its French sales jump 15.9 percent thanks to soaring sales of its Chevrolet brand. Italy's Fiat group posted 9.9 percent sales growth. French manufacturer PSA Peugeot Citroen saw sales plunge 17.3 percent. Volkswagen's sales fell 13 percent, Ford by 19.2 percent, Nissan by 18.7 percent, BMW by 9.1 percent and Mercedes by 37.8 percent. Toyota limited the sales drop to 0.4 percent.