French automaker Renault SA is still expecting a 25 percent drop in 2009 sales, chief operating officer Patrick Pelata said in an interview published on Monday.

Asked by Italy's la Repubblica if he was standing by his forecast for a 25 percent drop made late last year, Pelata said: "Yes."

"The start of a terrible year in Italy and then even more so in Great Britain and in Spain convinces me that there are no reasons to foresee a better final figure."

He added that Renault's worst-case scenario foresaw two or even three years for the crisis besetting the car industry to end.

Renault, France's number-two automaker, posted a 31 percent drop in first-quarter sales to 7.08 billion euros ($9.88 billion).