French automaker Renno went into the global health crisis with existing challenges.

It had Bean backing away from an aggressive expansion plan pursued by Carlos Cone, its former boss turned fugitive.

On Tuesday, Renno said its worldwide sales fell over 21% last year, underperforming a decline in the global car market.

But the company insists its turnaround plan is still on track, adding that a key focuses on profitability, not sales volume.

European sales for the brand fell by a quarter, but sales of electric vehicles in the region was strong on more than doubled from 2019.

Renno last year announced plans to cut around 15,000 jobs and restructure French plants in a bid to save €2 billion or $2.1 billion.

The carmaker wasn't alone in seeing 2020 sales declines.

On Tuesday, BMW said it saw an 8.4% fall despite demand picking up in the fourth quarter.

Its European sales were down over 15% for the year.

But in China, where the pandemic has been brought under control, faster sales bucked the trend with an increase.

Fellow German carmaker Volkswagen said on Tuesday that sales of its core brand dropped by 15% with lockdowns hitting car dealerships around the world.

VW said it had seen sales recovering in December compared to previous months.

It's also seen the surge in demand for electric vehicles, with demand for its E V models jumping by 158% for the year.