PARIS (Reuters) - PSA Group <PEUP.PA> said global sales rose 6.8 percent to a record 3.88 million cars and vans, as the Peugeot maker's continuing slump in China was offset by its acquisition of Opel - and a boost from European rivals' emissions problems.
Paris-based PSA recorded a 31 percent sales increase in its home region, where its European market share jumped towards the end of the year as the introduction of tougher new emissions tests forced competitors to suspend key models.
Excluding the Opel-Vauxhall business acquired from General Motors in 2017, PSA's European sales rose 5 percent, outpacing the market's weak growth.
Combined global sales by PSA's French brands - Peugeot, Citroen and DS - fell 12 percent to 2.84 million vehicles.
In China, where the group is struggling to reverse a three-year sales collapse, PSA's deliveries fell 32 percent to 262,583 vehicles in 2018.
(Reporting by Laurence Frost and Gilles Guillaume; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
