PSA suffers 10 per cent slump in sales for 2019
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The parent company of Vauxhall and Peugeot suffered a 10 per cent slump in sales last year, as declining volumes in China, the Middle East and Africa came to bear on the car maker.
PSA, which is part-way through a merger with Fiat Chrysler, saw sales decline by 2.5 per cent in its home European market to 3.1m vehicles. Opel-Vauxhall suffered the steepest fall, down 6.4 per cent year-on-year.
However, an increase in sales of light commercial vehicles (LCVs) helped PSA take a 16.8 per cent market share. This is slightly down on its 17.1 per cent market share last year.
According to figures published by the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, Volkswagen and Renault both outperformed PSA in the passenger car market.
Meanwhile, Fiat Chrysler was hit by a 7.3 per cent fall in car sales in Europe, as it gears up for the $50bn deal with PSA that will form the fourth-largest car maker in the world.
PSA’s biggest rival, Renault, is due to publish its 2019 sales tomorrow.
Referring to its line-up of small passenger cars, PSA said: “2019 was a year of consolidation for Peugeot. The brand completely renewed its B-segment offering to support its sales growth in 2020.”
“Citroen had the strongest growth among the top 12 best-selling brands in Europe,” it added in a statement.
PSA’s sales in China fell 55.4 per cent to 117,084 vehicles, just one-tenth of the 1m-a-year target it had set itself a few years ago.