Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Renault SA, France’s second-biggest carmaker, said sales plunged 29 percent last month on a slump in emerging market, preventing the company from fulfilling its pledge to increase global volumes in 2008.

Renault sold 146,758 cars and light trucks in December compared with 205,258 a year earlier, the company said in a statement today. Full-year sales dropped 4.2 percent to 2.38 million vehicles from 2.49 million.

“Inventory management and reduction will remain a priority throughout 2009,” the Boulogne-Billancourt, France-based carmaker said, without giving any guidance for the year.

European carmakers have shuttered plants and suspended thousands of jobs to reverse a buildup of unsold vehicles as plummeting consumer confidence and tighter credit erode sales. Renault said this week it had reduced inventories to 70,000 vehicles from more than 100,000 in September, after slashing production by 50 percent in the fourth quarter.

Last month’s sales decline was led by a 41 percent slump across emerging markets, including Romania, Russia and North African states, as Renault’s low-cost Logan lost momentum. The no-frills model had powered sales growth in the first half of the year, offsetting the decline in Western Europe.

European sales fell 28 percent to 87,398 last month, dropping 7.2 percent for the full year to 1.51 million vehicles, Renault said. The company’s global market share was little changed at 3.6 percent.

Forecasts Cut

Renault cut its full-year volume forecast twice since the start of 2008, when it predicted a gain of more than 10 percent. Its pledge on Oct. 15 to deliver growth in full-year sales was rapidly undermined by a 14 percent slide the same month, followed by a 24 percent plunge in November.

In February 2006, soon after taking over as Renault’s chief executive officer, Carlos Ghosn pledged to lift sales this year to 3.33 million vehicles and operating profit to 6 percent of revenue. He trimmed his target to 3 million units last July as the economic crisis took hold, then scrapped it altogether three months later.

To contact the reporter on this story: Laurence Frost in Paris at lfrost4@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 9, 2009 02:51 EST