Sales of new cars in France report fresh low in June

France sold less new cars in June from a year earlier as persistent gloomy economic climate forced local consumers to clinch their belt and to stand on edge, French Car Sales Federation (CCFA) said Monday. Last month, French auto manufacturers offered 190,199 units, down by 9 percent compared to sales of June 2012, the monthly report showed. Sales of French brands lost 6.9 percent mainly due to falling sales of PSA Peugeot Citroen. The leading car maker in France sold 9.5 percent less cars to 57,692 vehicles. Renault, France's second largest car maker also reported negative trend following 3.6 percent decline in sales, pulled down by 20.2 percent drop of low-cost brand of Dacia, according to the federation. At the end of June foreign brands also showed poor performance and provided 84,316 new cars from 95,119 units sold the same month in the previous year. "Our indicators allow us to confirm the prediction of 8 percent decrease in sales over the whole year of 2013, which points to stabilization in the second half," Patrick Blain, CCFA head was quoted as saying by local media.