French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen said that revenues grew strongly in the third quarter, powered by the recent acquisition of Opel-Vauxhall, but car sales stalled in the key market of China. PSA said in a statement that group-wide revenues jumped by 31.4 percent to 15 billion euros (USD 17.6 billion) in the period from July to September. In its core brands of Peugeot, Citroen and DS, revenues were up 11.6 percent at 8.4 billion euros, with volumes and market share increasing in most regions, except China.
Growth was mainly driven by the product mix and the worldwide success of new models "that more than compensated the negative impact of exchange rates," the carmaker said.
Revenues at Opel-Vauxhall, the acquisition of which was finalised on August 1, amounted to 2.8 billion euros in the two months of August and September. Not including Opel-Vauxhall, PSA said it sold a total of 677,800 vehicles worldwide in the third quarter, 0.5 percent fewer than in the same period a year earlier. Unit sales were up in all regions, except China, where the number of vehicles sold slumped by 28.7 percent to 89,770. In the nine months to September, the slump was even more pronounced with unit sales in China skidding 42.7 percent.
"It will take some months before sales turn around there," said finance chief Jean-Baptiste de Chatillon. "We're confident that China will return to the level of sales we're hoping for," he said.
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