Hilfe! Huge Car Shortages In Deutschland!

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

How things change. A few months ago, German dealers complained that the sky is falling, and that it’s the end of the car business as we know it – just because German cars sales had crashed from their Abwrackprämien-induced unnatural highs. Now, German car dealers have new reason to be worried: More buyers than cars! Rationing! Come back next year!

Automobilwoche [sub] finds car shortages wherever they look. “Export successes are nice for the automaker,“ says a large VW dealer, “but my customers have to wait longer and longer for their cars, which endangers sales.” Implied criticism: Those bastards send their cars to China instead to their German dealers. What’s more, dealers are worried that they can’t reach their targets and will be cheated out of their year end bonus – not because they don’t sell enough cars, because the automaker can’t deliver.

The problem is rampant industry-wide. One item must be made clear before we look: The preponderance of made-in-Europe cars are made-to-order. You pick a car with all the details you want, they’ll make it for you. Takes about 4 weeks when everything goes normal. Currently, things don’t go normal.

  • Alain Uyttenhoven, head of Toyota Germany confirms that “there can be shortages with niche products that are not made in Europe, such as Land Cruiser, HiLux or HiAce. In the past months, our supply situation was not optimal.”
  • If you order a Daimler now, they promise you delivery by the end of the year, unless for „a few exceptions, such as SLS AMG, CL and CLS,” says a Daimler spokestress.
  • Over at BMW in Munich, „delivery times for models made in the US (X3/X5/X6) reach into the new year.“ If you order one now, you may get it in February 2011, if you are lucky. Want a new 5-Series? Some of them won’t be available until next year.
  • Ford has supply problems with cars with bigger bore diesel engines, for instance with the Mondeo, the S-Max or the Galaxy. The Thailand-made Ranger comes with a long wait.
  • Renault has problems with the Koleos: 4 months wait. All other cars can be had within 8 to 12 weeks, if you order now.
  • Delivery times at Volkswagen: Between 6 and 12 weeks, some models longer.
  • The only brand that has abundant cars: Opel. Opel sales boss Imelda Labbé told Automobilwoche: “All ordered cars will be delivered this year.”
Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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 3 comments
  • Patrickj Patrickj on Oct 17, 2010

    Kneejerk overreaction seems to be a hallmark of business. First, build cars as if tens of millions of new buyers were going to suddenly appear with the coin to buy $50,000 vehicles. When that hysteria blows up, suddenly decide that hardly anyone will ever buy a new car again. Both extremes are equally dumb, and Hyundai seems to have gained greatly on their willingness to avoid both.

    • See 1 previous
    • Patrickj Patrickj on Oct 18, 2010

      @th009 Hyundai seems to be headed for one of the top 3 positions in the U.S. market. I don't think that passing two of the three domestic automakers is out of teh question.

  • Wolfwagen Is it me or have auto shows just turned to meh? To me, there isn't much excitement anymore. it's like we have hit a second malaise era. Every new vehicle is some cookie-cutter CUV. No cutting-edge designs. No talk of any great powertrains, or technological achievements. It's sort of expected with the push to EVs but there is no news on that front either. No new battery tech, no new charging tech. Nothing.
  • CanadaCraig You can just imagine how quickly the tires are going to wear out on a 5,800 lbs AWD 2024 Dodge Charger.
  • Luke42 I tried FSD for a month in December 2022 on my Model Y and wasn’t impressed.The building-blocks were amazing but sum of the all of those amazing parts was about as useful as Honda Sensing in terms of reducing the driver’s workload.I have a list of fixes I need to see in Autopilot before I blow another $200 renting FSD. But I will try it for free for a month.I would love it if FSD v12 lived up to the hype and my mind were changed. But I have no reason to believe I might be wrong at this point, based on the reviews I’ve read so far. [shrug]. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it once I get to test it.
  • FormerFF We bought three new and one used car last year, so we won't be visiting any showrooms this year unless a meteor hits one of them. Sorry to hear that Mini has terminated the manual transmission, a Mini could be a fun car to drive with a stick.It appears that 2025 is going to see a significant decrease in the number of models that can be had with a stick. The used car we bought is a Mk 7 GTI with a six speed manual, and my younger daughter and I are enjoying it quite a lot. We'll be hanging on to it for many years.
  • Oberkanone Where is the value here? Magna is assembling the vehicles. The IP is not novel. Just buy the IP at bankruptcy stage for next to nothing.
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