French new-car sales rose by 9.4 percent in February, the seventh-consecutive monthly increase, with Skoda, Nissan and Dacia each recording gains of more than 30 percent.
There were 126,237 registrations in February, trade group PFA said. That a figure was still 27 percent below February 2019, before the coronavirus pandemic.
Julien Billon, the CEO of market watcher AAA Data, said in a release that deliveries of cars ordered months ago were driving the increased demand, but that orders were down 9 percent compared with January. \
"If this keeps up, the inventory waiting to be put on the road will run out in the first half of 2023 and the second half will be paved with obstacles," he said.