SHARE
COPY LINK

AUTO

Peugeot-Citroen logs stable first-half sales

France's biggest car maker CSA Peugeot Citroen logged stable worldwide sales of 1.86 million vehicles in the first half of 2011, with a weakened performance in Europe, it said on Tuesday.

Worldwide sales rose fractionally by 0.2 percent compared to the same period last year but sales were down 5.3 percent in Europe, where some governments have recently wound down trade-in schemes for old motors.

“Dragged down by the elimination of remaining scrappage incentives, traditionally strong markets for the Peugeot and Citroen brands reported weak growth or strong declines,” the firm said in a statement.

However, “global automobile markets rose by six percent in the first half of 2011,” led by demand for passenger cars in China and passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in Latin America and Russia, it added.

“In Europe, the passenger car and light commercial vehicle market declined by 0.8 percent overall, reflecting a still challenging business environment, with performances widely varying by country.”

Sales fell 25 percent in Spain and 12 percent in Italy, and grew by two percent in France and 11 percent in Germany. In Russia they soared 65.5 percent to 35,400 vehicles.

France’s second-biggest automaker Renault on Monday reported that first-half vehicle sales fell 7.4 percent in Europe but said it expected record sales worldwide thanks to booming emerging markets.

Renault’s sales rose 1.9 percent to 1.37 million vehicles worldwide, but in Europe they fell 7.4 percent to 831,700 units.

Renault said it was hoping to sell more than 2.6 million vehicles over the whole of 2011, as its international sales improved, diverging from its weaker performance in France and throughout Europe.

PSA Peugeot Citroen echoed this reliance on non-European markets.

“The Group is confirming its target of generating 50 percent of sales outside Europe in 2015,” it said.

Its executive vice president for brands, Jean-Marc Gales, said in Tuesday’s statement the company is successfully “shifting the model range mix further upmarket.”

It plans soon to launch the world’s first diesel-electric “hybrid” car, the Peugeot 3008 HYbrid4, and a new version of its classic DS model, the DS5.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

FARMING

WTO rules US tariffs on Spanish olives breach rules

A US decision to slap steep import duties on Spanish olives over claims they benefited from subsidies constituted a violation of international trade rules, the World Trade Organisation ruled Friday.

WTO rules US tariffs on Spanish olives breach rules
Farmers had just begun harvesting olives in southern Spain when former US President Donald Trump soured the mood with the tariffs' announcement. Photo: Jorge Guerrero/AFP

Former US president Donald Trump’s administration slapped extra tariffs on Spain’s iconic agricultural export in 2018, considering their olives were subsidised and being dumped on the US market at prices below their real value.

The combined rates of the anti-subsidy and anti-dumping duties go as high as 44 percent.

The European Commission, which handles trade policy for the 27 EU states, said the move was unacceptable and turned to the WTO, where a panel of experts was appointed to examine the case.

In Friday’s ruling, the WTO panel agreed with the EU’s argument that the anti-subsidy duties were illegal.

But it did not support its stance that the US anti-dumping duties violated international trade rules.

The panel said it “recommended that the United States bring its measures into conformity with its obligations”.

EU trade commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis hailed the ruling, pointing out that the US duties “severely hit Spanish olive producers.”

Demonstrators take part in a 2019 protest in Madrid, called by the olive sector
Demonstrators take part in a 2019 protest in Madrid called by the olive sector to denounce low prices of olive oil and the 25 percent tariff that Spanish olives and olive oil faced in the United States. (Photo by PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU / AFP)
 

“We now expect the US to take the appropriate steps to implement the WTO ruling, so that exports of ripe olives from Spain to the US can resume under normal conditions,” he said.

The European Commission charges that Spain’s exports of ripe olives to the United States, which previously raked in €67 million ($75.6 million) annually, have shrunk by nearly 60 percent since the duties were imposed.

The office of the US Trade Representative in Washington did not immediately comment on the ruling.

According to WTO rules, the parties have 60 days to file for an appeal.

If the United States does file an appeal though, it would basically amount to a veto of the ruling.

That is because the WTO Appellate Body — also known as the supreme court of world trade — stopped functioning in late 2019 after Washington blocked the appointment of new judges.

SHOW COMMENTS