French car maker Renault on Thursday posted an operating margin of 7.6% for the first half year, it's highest ever, helped by cost reductions and new products.

The company, whose brands include Alpine sports-cars and Dacia, also returned to a net profit in the six months through June, recording a net income of 2.12 billion euros ($2.35 billion) after posting a 1.68 billion loss in the first half of 2022.

($1 = 0.9008 euros)

(Reporting by Victor Goury-Laffont and Gilles Guillaume, editing by Kirsti Knolle)