French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen said sales of vehicles and knocked-down kits fell 14 percent in the first six months of the year. Leaving aside sales of completely knocked-down (CKD) kits - shipped for assembly in other markets such as Iran - sales were down 17.5 percent at 1.386 million vehicles, PSA said in a statement on Tuesday.
The company gave no forecast, saying only that the second half of the year would be shaped by the arrival of new car models including the revamped Citroen C3 and Peugeot's 5008.
The car industry has been hit by an unprecedented crisis, with carmakers slashing production and cutting jobs late last year in reaction to a slump in sales. European car sales fell for the 13th straight month in May, down 4.9 percent to 1.27 million vehicles.
Governments have stepped in to help, providing loans and introducing incentive schemes to help carmakers survive the downturn, leading to some signs of improvement in recent months. The head of Citroen told Reuters he hoped car scrapping bonus schemes put in place in several European countries to encourage owners to replace older vehicles with newer models would be extended.
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