Germany In March 2012: No Crash
Stories of Greek defaults and Italian austerity programs make you think that Europe as a whole is just about to implode. Not true at all. The export-oriented German economy profits from the still relatively low Euro. The good mood in Germany is reflected in the number of new cars that were registered in March. Germany’s Kraftfahrtbundesamt reports a 3.4 percent rise in March, compared to the same month of 2011.
As you can see from the graph above, 2012 new car sales in Germany shape up as a repeat of 2011. Most German makes and makers are doing fine. Volkswagen increased its sales by 9.2 percent, BMW 11.6 percent, Porsche could increase its sales a whopping 47.4 percent.
Ford lost 1.3 percent. Opel lost a painful 12.3 percent in March, while Chevrolet sales rose 32.5 percent. Opel’s share of the German market sunk to 7 percent for march and the first quarter of 2012.
Hyundai (+22.9 percent) and Kia (+35.4 percent) continue to roll up the market for Asian imports. In the first three months of the year, Hyundai sold 26,137 cars in Germany, Toyota and Lexus sold only 22,955.
47.9 percent of the 773,636 new cars sold in the first quarter run in diesel. 4,020 units were hybrids, 694 were pure EVs, 3,066 run on compressed gas.
Full statistics (in German, PDF) can be downloaded 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.
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Good report. Thanks for translating the PDF.