France records tepid c sales in 2011

France sold less new cars in 2011 from a year earlier following the end of a scrapping scheme, French Car Sales Federation (CCFA) said Monday. Last year, 2.204 million units were sold across France, down by 2.1 percent from the previous year. On a monthly basis, a sale of 187,653 new cars was recorded over the period compared to 228,316 vehicles sold in 2010, according to the federation. Sales of French home-made brands fell by 7 percent mainly due to the drop in Renault sales. The second largest car maker in France sold 9.6 percent less cars with sales of low-cost brand of Dacia slid by 15 percent. PSA Peugeot Citroen group saw its sales down by 4.9 percent last year after offering 692,789 units, the CCFA added in a statement. However, foreign brands showed an upward trend and provided 965,827 new cars to the 65-million-population market. France once adopted a scrapping scheme, offering 1,000 euros (1,295 U.S. dollars) for each 10-year-old car to help the business coping with the recession in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial crisis. But the public aid scheme ended on Dec. 31 2010.