French carmaker Peugeot Citroen expects a recovery of the European automotive market even though a German subsidy to boost car sales has now run out, its chief executive said in an interview with a German weekly on Saturday.
The second half of this year would be markedly better compared with the first half, with unit sales for the industry in July to December expected to fall by 7 percent year-on-year, Jean-Marc Gales told WirtschaftsWoche.
Full-year unit sales would decline by 12 percent, he added.
He conceded that the end of a German scheme to encourage consumers to swap old cars for new ones would hurt the market but not as badly as some had feared.
German subsidies which had paid motorists 2,500 euros ($3,600) to scrap their old cars have lifted national car sales ended last week.
