PSA, Renault, VW lead European car sales decline

PARIS (Reuters) - European car sales fell 0.3 percent in October, with the region's three biggest automakers Volkswagen , PSA and Renault leading the decline, according to industry data published on Thursday.

Registrations came in at 1.14 million cars last month in the region comprising European Union member states as well as Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, the Brussels-based Association of European Carmakers said in a statement.

PSA sales fell 7.4 percent, weighed down by the Citroen brand's 8.9 percent decline, while Peugeot sales were down a more modest 4.6 percent.

Renault group registrations were 2.1 percent lower, and Volkswagen suffered a 1.8 percent sales slide largely attributable to the core VW brand's 7.8 percent drop.

The October numbers dampened the European auto market's performance for the year so far - now amounting to 6.9 percent year-on-year growth for January-October.

French and German demand weakened in October, according to national data published earlier this month, causing forecaster LMC Automotive to trim its full-year market outlook for Western Europe.

(Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Adrian Croft)

You May Also Be Interested In

• Turkey offers Iraq technical help to bolster border security
• UK police make additional arrest over migrants' deaths in Channel
• Ukraine, Israel bill to bolster Lockheed, RTX profits