Renault sales beat forecasts
French carmaker Renault posted forecast-beating first-quarter sales and confirmed its target for positive free cashflow in the year as a whole, while warning of a difficult economic environment yesterday. Carmakers whose sales have been buoyed by government scrappage incentive schemes are worried about the effect on car demand when the schemes end. Renault confirmed an earlier forecast of a 10 per cent decline in the European market as a whole this year and said it was on track to meet its 2010 objectives of positive free cash flow and an increase in market share.