French carmakers lose domestic ground to rebounding Volkswagen

PARIS (Reuters) - French car registrations rose 3.9 percent in January, the country's main auto industry body said on Monday, as Volkswagen (VOWG_p.DE) appeared to shrug off the scandal over its diesel test-rigging, outpacing Renault (RENA.PA) and PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA).

Sales rose to 138,395 cars, the Paris-based CCFA said in a statement. Adjusted for selling days, of which there was one fewer last month than in January 2015, the gain was bigger.

The data offers some cheer to Volkswagen as it continues to face repercussions from the exposure of its U.S. emissions test-rigging.

Following a run of slower sales in the wake of the scandal, which broke in September, the German group's registrations picked up by 12 percent in January, based on CCFA data to Jan. 29, with the core VW brand up 5.5 percent.

That contrasted with a 3.2 percent gain for PSA and a 2.9 percent decline for Renault group in the same period, despite recent model launches including the Renault Kadjar compact SUV.

France's domestic brands also lagged behind foreign rivals Toyota , up 11.6 percent, and Fiat Chrysler (FCHA.MI), which gained 8.4 percent. A buoyant performance by Opel-Vauxhall helped parent General Motors (GM.N) record a 19 percent French sales gain.

(Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and James Regan)