French Car Sales Keep Growing Despite Recession

The scrapping bonus programs prepared by the French government continue to show positive results in the country as new car registration keep growing, especially for models benefiting from this kind of incentives. According to Autonews, French new car registration grew up 8.1 percent to 204,095 last month compared to 188,879 in March 2008. On the other hand, Spain new car sales continued to remain low last month but even so, the country recorded a slightly increase over the previous month.

Approximately 30 to 40 percent of all new car sales were based on these scrapping incentives offered by the French manufacturer, President of the French car manufacturers association CCFA was quoted as saying by the aforementioned source.

France is one of the countries that approved to provide financial support to domestic automakers who struggled to get through the economic crisis. However, officials insisted that every single euro sourced from the government has to be used for local facilities and particularly in the green car sector. Obviously, French automakers have always been opened to talks, with Renault representatives applauding the 3.3 billion euros package approved by the government.

“We are very pleased with the loan granted to us by the French government. In light of the exceptional crisis impacting our entire industry, access to credit was indispensable for supporting our activity and that of the automotive industry. It will also enable us to pursue our developments and investments in sustainable mobility,” Carlos Ghosn, President of Renault, said in February.

In addition, French officials repeatedly said the country has to do anything that's possible to support green car migration and install charging solutions for electric cars all over the country.