SEOUL (Thomson Financial) - Renault Samsung Motors, a unit of France's Renault SA, said Monday its car sales in September fell 17.6 percent from the previous year as production was affected by shortened working days due to the long Thanksgiving holiday break.

'Sales dropped as we were off for nine days for the holiday, far longer than our rivals,' a company official said.

The company said it sold 12,994 cars in September, down 17.6 percent from a year ago and also down 11.6 percent from August.

Domestic sales shrank 24.1 percent on an annual basis to 9,001 units while exports rose 2.2 percent to 3,993 units.

Renault (other-otc: RNSDY.PK - news - people ) holds 80.1 percent of the local unit while the remainder is owned by Korean credit card issuer Samsung Card.

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