UPDATE 1-French December car sales fall 15.8 pct-CCFA

* New December French car registrations down 15.8 pct

* French 2008 new car registrations down 0.7 pct

PARIS, Jan 5 (Reuters) - French passenger car sales fell 15.8 percent in December, car manufacturers' association CCFA said on Monday, as the effects of the weakening economic environment shatter consumer confidence.

The decline in sales in France came after Italy, Spain and Belgium last week published weaker data for December, as car sales have tumbled in recent months because of the effects of the credit crunch.

A total of 153,692 new passenger cars were registered during the month in France. Adjusted for the same number of working days as in December 2007, the French passenger car market would have seen a 23.5 percent fall, the CCFA said.

For the year as a whole, new passenger car registrations slipped 0.7 percent, with 2,050,289 vehicles registered.

Sales of light passenger and utility vehicles dropped 15.9 percent in December, and by 0.6 percent for the year as a whole.

French sales outperformed Spain, which last week published a 49.9 percent fall in December and a 28 percent drop for the year as a whole, their sharpest ever yearly drop, Spanish industry group ANFAC said. [ID:nL2437304]