UPDATE 1-French July new car sales jump after elections
(Adds details on companies, comments on reason for rise)
PARIS, Aug 1 (Reuters) - French new car registrations made a surprise 21 percent jump in July, or 10 percent on a same working day basis, after five months of declines, the French CCFA carmakers association said on Wednesday.
The rise brought the cumulative seven-month growth of the French car market to 0.3 percent.
A spokesman for the CCFA cited several factors such as the end of uncertainty around the presidential and parliamentary elections, a return of consumer confidence and the launch of several new car models.
"There is an end to the electoral marathon that weighed on car sales for several months," CCFA spokesman Jean Pierre Mercier said.
French carmakers, which had been taking heavy hits over several months, were buoyed by models such as the C4 Picasso and 207 for PSA Peugeot Citroen (PEUP.PA) and the Twingo small car for Renault (RENA.PA).
PSA had a 22.2 percent July rise, and the Renault group had a 21.6 percent rise with a 68.5 percent jump for its Dacia subsidiary, which makes the no-frills Logan.
Total car sales rose to 183,365 vehicles in July and 1,263,973 for the seven months.
Other notable increases were for third-biggest selling group Volkswagen (VOWG.DE) at 17.6 percent, BMW (BMWG.DE) at 47.4 percent and Ford (F.N) at 34.0 percent.
