Renault said Friday its Japanese partner Nissan would manufacture its next generation subcompact Micra model at a factory in France, just a month after reaching a wage and working hours deal with French employees. The new Micra will be manufactured at the Renault plant at Flins, near Paris, from 2016 and will reach 82,000 vehicles per year, according to statements released by the companies.

French automaker Renault on Wednesday said sales in the first quarter of 2013 fell 11.6 percent year-on-year to 8.27 billion euros ($10.7 billion) but maintained its outlook for the year. Vehicle sales worldwide fell by 4.7 percent to 608,455 units, the company said, due to a poor performance in Europe where unit sales fell by 11.6 percent, worse than the overall market which was down 10 percent. Renault added it believes the French and European markets will both contract by 5 percent this year, despite the global market expanding a projected 3 percent

SEOUL, April 1 (Yonhap) -- Renault Samsung Motors Co., the local unit of French automaker Renault SA, said Monday that its March sales dipped 3.3 percent from a year ago due mainly to a slump in domestic and overseas demand. Renault Samsung sold 12,509 vehicles in March, compared with 12,931 units a year ago, the company said in a statement. Still, its March sales jumped 7.7 percent from the previous month, according to the automaker. Domestic sales fell 0.4 percent on-year to 4,769 in March, with exports dipping 4.9 percent to 7,740 vehicles, it said.

The European crisis hovered like a dark cloud over the Geneva International Motor Show as it opened on Tuesday, but there was no lack of new luxury cars shining on the showroom floor. The event, considered one of the most important car shows of the year, will nonetheless be marked by the continent's economic and debt crisis again after an already catastrophic year in 2012. Japanese tiremaker Bridgestone for instance used the opening day to announce that it will close a plant in Italy with 950 employees owing to plunging sales.