CLERMONT-FERRAND, France (Thomson Financial) - Orders for the new version of the Twingo, which was launched on June 15, are ahead of expectations, said Renault 's French sales director, Jacques Chauvet.

Speaking at a news conference at the inauguration of a new showroom, he said: 'We will sell slightly more Twingos than expected,' adding: 'The order book is equivalent to 30 pct of the sales predicted for the whole year.'

Chauvet declined to give any exact figures.

On June 15, Renault (other-otc: RNSDF.PK - news - people ) had said it expected to sell slightly over 100,000 new Twingos per year.

CEO Carlos Ghosn said: 'It's got off to a good start. We are very pleased; The customer reaction is very positive.'

Ghosn said: 'France still represents the priority for Renault. Our wish is to have a strong market share in France.'

Chauvet said Renault's share of the French passenger car market was 24.4 pct in June. 'It has been going down by 10 pct a year for two years.'

Ghosn said: '23 or 24 pct is a bit slack... If we do our job properly, and taking account of new products coming along, we will climb back up.'

tf.TFN-Europe_newsdesk@thomson.com

jsa/vlb

COPYRIGHT

Copyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.

The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.

Neither the Subscriber nor AFX News warrants the completeness or accuracy of the Service or the suitability of the Service as a trading aid and neither accepts any liability for losses howsoever incurred. The content on this site, including news, quotes, data and other information, is provided by AFX News and its third party content providers for your personal information only, and neither AFX News nor its third party content providers shall be liable for any errors, inaccuracies or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.

Source: [url=http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2007/07/02/afx3877275.html]Forbes[/url]