France's new-car registrations drop 11.4% in August
Tenth straight monthly decline for country's sales
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PARIS (Reuters) -- France's new-car registrations in August fell 11.4 percent year-on-year, marking the 10th straight monthly drop as consumers cut back on big-ticket purchases amid slumping growth and rising unemployment.
France's domestic carmakers continued to struggle as Renault's registrations dropped by 20.6 percent and its larger rival, PSA/Peugeot-Citroen, fell by 10.6 percent, French industry group CCFA said in a statement on Monday.
The August sales slide at Paris-based PSA, which is cutting more than 10,000 jobs and closing a plant to stem mounting losses, was deeper for its Citroen brand, which lost 19 percent of sales compared with the same period in 2011, against a 3.4 percent fall for the Peugeot brand.
Renault's drop in sales was softened by a 21.1 percent increase in demand for its low-cost Dacia range, which is built in Romania and Morocco. South Korea's Hyundai and affiliate Kia bucked the downward trend with sales increases of 31.4 percent and 18.7 percent respectively.
Fiat and U.S. automakers continued to lose ground in France, recording declines of 13.3 percent for General Motors, 43.2 percent for Ford and 32.2 percent for the Italian group.
Overall registrations through August fell 13.4 percent to 1.29 million, CCFA said.
Automotive News Europe contributed to this report
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