Group worldwide sales increased 28% to 914,000 units, while revenue from new vehicle sales climbed 27%. PSA said that its share of the European car and light commercial vehicle market grew to 14.6% in the first quarter, from 13.5% a year earlier.
The French company estimates its sales outside Europe to continue to grow this year, thanks to rising demand and new vehicle launches in China and Latin America. As far as products are concerned, PSA stressed the “successful performance by the new Citroen C3, Peugeot 3008 and Peugeot 5009”.
Although PSA expects European markets to shrink by around 9 percent this year, the company’s market share should continue to grow in 2010 compared to 2009. The reason for this is the introduction in recent months of new models such as the Citroen DS3 and the Peugeot RCZ.
“I am very confident that our sales and marketing momentum and the deployment of the performance plan will enable the group to limit the impact of a business environment that risks being difficult in Europe in the second half, ” said Philippe Varin, chairman of the PSA Managing Boards, quoted by just-auto.com.. Outside Europe, PSA estimates to maintain unit sales growth thanks to the rising demand in local markets and the launches of the Citroen C5 and the Peugeot 408 in China and of the Peugeot Hoggar, the C3 Aircross and the Peugeot 408 in Latin America.
The company did not report Q1 profit or loss figures.
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