Renault reported a 4.7 percent gain in global auto sales in the first half of this year as the company’s budget brand Dacia continued to attract a growing number of customers.
Renault SA delivered 1.37 million automobiles and light commercial vehicles in the first six months of the year, up from 1.3 million a year earlier. Consequently, the French carmaker increased its forecast for 2014 growth in Europe to 3-4 percent from an earlier prediction of 2-3 percent.
Although it is Europe’s third largest automaker, Renault wants to reduce its dependence on the continent and expand into emerging markets. Still, recovering European markets fueled Renault’s sales growth in the first six months of the year, with gains as high as 35 percent in Spain and the UK, while deliveries outside Europe dropped 9 percent because of declines in Russia, Argentina and Algeria.
Much of Renault’s growth was due to Dacia models and the Renault Captur small SUV, Chief Performance Officer Jerome Stoll said in a statement. Demand of the Dacia Duster SUV and the Sandero hatchback fueled a 24 percent increase in the brand’s first-half sales in Europe, with the budget brand helping Renault’s European sales rise 18 percent.
The French carmaker’s entry-level range, sold as Dacia products in Europe and with the Renault badge in other markets, made up 42 percent of the group’s first-half sales, compared with 41 percent a year earlier.
Deliveries in Russia, Renault’s third-biggest market, fell 8 percent, with the company expecting a similar trend in emerging markets for the second half of the year. Russia’s car market is expected to shrink by about 10 percent this year, while Brazil and Argentina will drop 5 percent and 20 percent, respectively.
By Dan Mihalascu
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