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

French automaker Renault signed a deal with unions on Wednesday to cut 7,500 jobs and increase working hours in exchange for a pledge to avoid factory closures. After signing the deal with three unions -- Force Ouvriere, CFE-CGC and CFDT -- Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn called it a "historic" step in French labour relations. "This is a balanced agreement.... It gives Renault the means to renew its competitiveness in France," Ghosn said.

French automaker Renault reported on Thursday a 15.3-percent drop in net profit to 1.77 billion euros ($2.4 billion) last year of which nearly half came from a gain on the sale of a stake in Swedish group AB Volvo. Renault's results were far stronger than those of crisis-stricken PSA Peugeot Citroen which has reported a 2012 loss of 5.0 billion euros owing mainly to writedowns to reflect weakness in the French auto market.

BEIJING, Feb 10 (Reuters) - French carmaker Renault has started recalling over 60,000 cars exported to China due to problems with their fuel level sensors, state news agency Xinhua quoted the Chinese consumer watchdog as saying. Renault's China unit this week started recalling 61,508 Koleos sport utility vehicles produced between Dec 16, 2008 and July 10, 2012, Xinhua quoted the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine as saying on Saturday.