Germany In September 2011: Up 8.1 Percent. Big Is Back
Ah, my fellow Germans, so predictable. It happens after every crisis: After selfmedicated austerity (money or no money, does not matter,) at one point, all secretly get together and agree that too much restraint is a bad thing. Then, they go out and buy cars. More cars, bigger cars, faster cars.
And so, it happens again. New car sales in Germany, Europe’s largest and most influential car market, rose 8.1 percent in September to 280.689 units. This according to a count of registrations, performed by the German Kraftfahrtbundesamt. This is no one-month wonder: January through September, 2.4 million new cars were registered, 10.8 percent more than in the same period of 2010.
Big is back, obscene gasoline prices notwithstanding. Large vans grew 44.5 percent, SUVs 28.3 percent, the Upper-class added 36.8 percent. Compact cars are Germany’s biggest segment, but it’s more or less stagnant at 1.8 percent above. Small vehicles get smaller: The mini segment shrunk by 13.8 percent. Surprisingly, the government agency counts pure 1,786 EVs and 9,214 new hybrids for all of 2011. As cars get bigger, diesel is more en vogue and at 46.4 percent of all newly registered cars.
Not much change in the manufacturer dept. Volkswagen is unassailable Nummer Eins with a market share of 21.9 percent. BMW is second with 9.2 percent, followed by Mercedes with 8.8 percent. The whole report (in German) is available here.
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.
More by Bertel Schmitt
Comments
Join the conversation