PARIS, April 1 (Reuters) - French car sales rose 7.5 percent in March, the country's main industry association said on Friday, led by Renault and a resurgent General Motors .
Registrations rose to 211,264 cars in March, the Paris-based CCFA said, completing an 8.2 percent first-quarter expansion - a strong start to a year in which Renault and others have predicted weaker growth of around 2 percent for the full 12 months.
Renault group, based in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt, recorded a 12.3 percent sales increase for March, with its namesake brand and no-frills Dacia badge both gaining market share on the strength of new and revamped models.
Domestic rival PSA Peugeot Citroen fared less well, with a March gain of 2.8 percent as both of its mid-range brands trailed the market last month and for the quarter.
General Motors, rebounding from the costly withdrawal of its Chevrolet brand from Europe, saw sales jump almost 19 percent in March and 21 percent in the first quarter on strong demand for recent Opel models including the Mokka mini-SUV.
French delivery van sales meanwhile rose 4.9 percent last month and 9.4 percent in the quarter, the CCFA said, taking total light vehicle sales growth for the respective periods to 7.1 percent and 8.4 percent.
(Reporting by Laurence Frost; Editing by James Regan)