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Renault targets sales growth in all regions after record 2015

By Laurence Frost

PARIS (Reuters) - French carmaker Renault on Monday reported a 3.3 percent rise in global sales in 2015, saying that new models helped it to grab a bigger share of rebounding European demand and hold its own in troubled emerging markets.

Deliveries increased to 2.8 million cars and vans last year -- a record for the group -- at a rate that was more than double the global market's 1.6 percent advance.

Renault pledged to increase sales across the board in 2016 as the global market expands by a forecast 1-2 percent, with European and French demand growth at the upper end of the range.

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"Our growth will accelerate in 2016 and we will improve our positions in all our regions," sales chief Thierry Koskas said in a statement.

Boosted by recent launches, including the Kadjar and Captur SUVs, Renault's European sales rose 10.2 percent in 2015, outpacing the market's 9.4 percent growth.

However, deliveries dropped 14.8 percent in South America and 8.6 percent in Renault's Eurasia region, which is mainly Russia, broadly in line with collapsing demand in those markets.

The emerging-market slump also held back sales of no-frills cars including the Logan and Sandero compacts. Sales in the so-called Global Access category fell 1.4 percent to 1.11 million vehicles. That accounted for 40 percent of group sales, down 2 percentage points from 2014.

The company is betting on the recent arrival of the ultra low-cost Kwid mini-SUV in India to bring renewed growth in budget vehicles this year.

At 0823 GMT Renault shares were 0.3 percent lower at 74.93 euros. The stock fell sharply last week on reports that the carmaker's offices were raided by French authorities investigating its reporting of engine emissions in the wake of the scandal over test-rigging by Volkswagen.

Renault and French officials have denied that any software cheats were identified, but investors remain concerned that the company could be hit by a crackdown on vehicles with real-world nitrogen oxide emissions in excess of European norms.

The carmaker was expected to outline plans to improve its diesel emissions in a presentation to French officials later on Monday.

(Additional reporting by Gilles Guillaume; Editing by James Regan and David Goodman)