Renault, which is struggling with declining car sales in its home market, is due to announce an overhaul of its French dealership network on Tuesday. The automaker is expected to sell some of its unprofitable wholly owned dealers to independent private operators. The REA Group, the Renault subsidiary that owns the dealers, is due to brief trade unions on the plans at a meeting today.

Global sales of cars made by Renault and its Korean Samsung Motors and Romanian Dacia brands slid by 4.2 per cent in May. The group's unit sales in France, Renault's largest market, were down by 5.8 per cent for the month, and down 9.4per cent for the year to date.