PARIS - New car registrations in France plunged 50.34% year-on-year in May due to the closure of car dealerships because of the new coronavirus epidemic and confinement measures taken by the government to curb the spread of the disease.

The fall in May follows a 72% slump in March, when the shutdown measures were first announced, and a 89% tumble in April, compared with the same period a year ago.

The Committee of the French automobile manufacturers (CCFA) data showed that 96,310 passenger vehicles were registered in France in May.

The CCFA data showed that new car registrations for French carmaker PSA group, which includes the Peugeot, Citroën, DS, Opel and Vauxhall brands, fell by 56.07% compared to the same month of 2019.

Renault group, which includes Renault, Dacia and Alpine brands, saw its registrations in France decline 50.39% in May.

CCFA said the market share for private electric vehicles increased over the first five months of the year.

Electric vehicles registration almost doubled to 31,244 units in from January to May, compared with 16,510 in the same period in 2019, representing 6.5% of new car registrations market share.

Hybrid vehicles registration also improved during the five-month period from January to the end of May, at 52,646, compared with 46,566 registrations for the same period last year.

(Reporting by Jean Terzian, Gilles Guillaume and Henri-Pierre Andre; Writing by Bate Felix; Editing by Toby Chopra) ((bate.felix@thomsonreuters.com; +33 1 49 49 55 70 Twitter: @BateFelix;))