Renault less optimistic for sales in Europe
French carmaker Renault edged its full-year forecast for the global market lower as growth outside Europe helped its own first-half sales of cars and light commercial vehicles to rise 1.9 per cent.
Renault, whose partner is Japan’s Nissan Motor, forecast diverging trends between Europe and the rest of the world in the second half, with a three to four per cent rise in the overall market for 2011 as a whole but a zero to two per cent dip in Europe.
In January, before the March 11 earthquake that devastated Japanese automotive parts suppliers and had knock-on effects for the global automotive industry, the carmaker predicted a rise of more than four per cent for the worldwide market this year.