Dacia registrations in Europe increased by 4.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, due to the success of Duster and Dokker models, but in France, the largest market of Renault group, the Romanian brand recorded a decline of 12.6 percent, a press release informs.
Dacia launched at end-2013 Duster Phase 2 model, which led to higher registrations in the first quarter of last year.
Renault revenue rose 13.7 percent in the first quarter as Europe’s recovering car market helped offset slumps in Russia and Brazil, reporting revenue of EUR 9.39 billion for the January-March quarter thanks to demand in Europe, where sales of its Clio and Twingo compact cars and the Captur crossover helped lift new car registrations by 9.9 percent.
Renault also increased its growth forecast for the European car market this year to five percent, up from its previous forecast of only two percent.
Europe’s car market has been on a rebound for over a year and a half. In the first quarter of 2015 new car registrations grew 8.6 percent to 3.5 million.