Car sales slide in Spain and France, Italy rebounds

Reuters (Paris) - Car sales tumbled in Spain and France in May with the end of government incentives, but sales in Italy rose, ending a 13-month losing streak, data showed on Wednesday.

French car sales fell 8.3 percent in May on an adjusted basis, industry association CCFA said, while Spain showed an even worse slump, with car association ANFAC reporting car sales down for the 11th straight month by 23.3 percent in May.

France's scrappage incentive scheme ran out in December 2010 but consumers who bought cars as part of the scheme could register them until the end of March. A similar plan in Spain ran out in July 2010.

"The fall in sales in the last three years and the boom in cheap cars has taken car fleets back to levels last seen 15 years ago," said Juan Antonio Sanchez Torres, head of Spanish car showroom association Ganvam.

In France, Renault (RENA.PA) blamed some of the shortfall on shortages affecting its manufacturing operations.

"For the third month in a row, Renault suffered from supply problems ... which prevented us from satisfying the whole order book in France," the company said in a statement.

Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn also told Le Parisien newspaper on Tuesday sales were being affected by supply disruptions to some parts manufactured in the areas hit by the Japanese earthquake.

ITALIAN TURNAROUND

Italian new car sales totalled 170,603 units, up 3.58 percent from the year before, in the first rise after 13 monthly straight declines, the Transport Ministry said.

Italy's biggest car maker, Fiat SpA (FIA.MI), saw May sales rise 4.6 percent to 51,342 units.

However, the Federauto car dealers association called the Italian upturn "illusory" since it included cars that had been registered with the ministry but not sold.

Belgium auto registrations were up 15 percent to 54,888 units.

In France, sales on an unadjusted basis were up 6.2 percent in May when there were three more working days this year compared with a year earlier.

Over the first five months of the year, sales rose 4.4 percent in unadjusted terms and 1.5 percent on a like-for-like basis, the association said.

Group sales at PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) rose 12.5 percent in May while Renault group sales dropped 18.2 percent.

French consumer spending slumped in April, the national statistics office said this week, hit by a steep fall in car purchases after the subsidies were phased out.

Domestic spending remains weak in Spain, held back by high debt and unemployment.