French auto group PSA Peugeot Citroen (IW 1000/43) reported on Friday a 13% fall in its 2012 first-half car sales.
The carmaker, which has tied up with General Motors (IW 500/5), is in financial difficulties and is expected to announce restructuring measures.
The French government is expected to announce action next week to help the auto sector.
At Global Equities, broker Xavier de Villepion said: "The future of the group is gloomy."
The alliance with GM, announced at the end of February, had come late in the day, given PSA's poor state, he added, and it led to a withdrawal by German car maker BMW from a joint venture with PSA to build hybrid vehicles.
No Loan Request
A PSA spokesman told AFP that the carmaker had not asked France for a loan, and the French government confirmed that in a statement issued by Economy Minister Pierre Moscovici and Minister of Industrial Renewal Arnaud Montebourg.
But Philippe Bonnin, the mayor of Chartres de Bretagne, home to a PSA site, and coordinator of a recent review of the auto group, said on the website of the financial daily La Tribune that PSA wanted such a loan.
A French union official said on Tuesday that Peugeot might cut up to 10,000 jobs to slash operating costs, more than doubling the figure of 4,000 cuts that the automaker had already unveiled.
At Citigroup, analysts said that PSA's latest sales figures were poor, but had been expected.
