July 9 (Bloomberg) -- PSA Peugeot Citroen, France’s biggest automaker, won a 5 million-euro reduction ($7 million) to a 49.5 million-euro fine levied by European Union antitrust regulators over cross-border car sales.

The European Commission “overestimated the concrete impact of the infringement on the market” by not sufficiently considering price differentials, the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg, the second-highest EU court, ruled today, cutting the fine to 44.55 million euros.

The Brussels-based commission, the EU’s antitrust agency, fined Paris-based Peugeot in October 2005 for denying Dutch dealers bonuses on sales to foreigners during a six-year period ending in 2003. Peugeot on July 7 said sales of cars and light trucks declined 14 percent in the first half as the global auto- market slump took hold in Europe and Latin America.

The 2005 penalty followed fines totaling 90 million euros against Volkswagen AG, the former DaimlerChrysler AG and General Motors Corp. for preventing bargain hunters from taking advantage of price differences between EU states.

Pierre-Olivier Salmon, a Peugeot spokesman, said in a telephone interview that the company would consider an appeal after its legal department studies the ruling.

Jonathan Todd, a commission spokesman, said the ruling confirmed the regulators’ basic assessment of the case.

The commission began investigating Peugeot and French rival Renault SA in 1999, after receiving customer complaints. The EU agency dropped the probe against Renault after finding no evidence of wrongdoing.

The case is T-450/05 Peugeot and Peugeot Nederland v Commission.

To contact the reporter on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in Luxembourg at sbodoni@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: July 9, 2009 06:01 EDT