Germany In June 2012: Bucking The European Downtrend

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: July 4th, 2012

germany in june 2012 bucking the european downtrend

Germany’s new car market recovered slightly in June. Sales were up 2.9 percent to units, Germany’s Kraftfahrtbundesamt reports.

With Mercedes up 5.7 percent, Audi up 8.1 percent and Porsche up 23.2 percent, Germans said good-bye to austerity, at least for June. Opel (-9,3 percent), Chevrolet (- 7.4 percent), and Ford (-4,5 percent) lost.

Full data (in German) here.

#BertelSchmitt #Germany #June2012 #Sales

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.

More by Bertel Schmitt

Comments

Join the conversation

3 comments

Mike978 on Jul 04, 2012

For the 6 months to end of June (more meaningful than one months data) I see Chevy is up 5.6% whilst Honda is way down by 17.0% and was actually outsold by Chevy - the indignaty of it. Maybe that doesn't fit in with the desired narrative as demonstrated by picking out certain data and companies to show losses.

Like Reply
- See 1 previous
- Srogers on Jul 04, 2012
  
  You DO realize that this is sales in Deutchland, right? I don't recall anyone claiming that Honda was a sales giant there.
  
  Like
- Mike978 on Jul 05, 2012
  
  @srogers I DO realise this was sales in Germany. I don`t recall anyone claiming that Chevrolet was a sales giant there either! But they were specifically mentioned. I was adding balance. Although we can all read so picking out certain companies in the text is not necessary.
  
  Like

Recent Comments

TheEndlessEnigma Of course they should unionize. US based automotive production component production and auto assembly plants with unionized memberships produce the highest quality products in the automotive sector. Just look at the high quality products produced by GM, Ford and Chrysler!
Redapple2 Got cha. No big.
Theflyersfan The wheel and tire combo is tragic and the "M Stripe" has to go, but overall, this one is a keeper. Provided the mileage isn't 300,000 and the service records don't read like a horror novel, this could be one of the last (almost) unmodified E34s out there that isn't rotting in a barn. I can see this ad being taken down quickly due to someone taking the chance. Recently had some good finds here. Which means Monday, we'll see a 1999 Honda Civic with falling off body mods from Pep Boys, a rusted fart can, Honda Rot with bad paint, 400,000 miles, and a biohazard interior, all for the unrealistic price of $10,000.
Theflyersfan Expect a press report about an expansion of VW's Mexican plant any day now. I'm all for worker's rights to get the best (and fair) wages and benefits possible, but didn't VW, and for that matter many of the Asian and European carmaker plants in the south, already have as good of, if not better wages already? This can drive a wedge in those plants and this might be a case of be careful what you wish for.
Jkross22 When I think about products that I buy that are of the highest quality or are of great value, I have no idea if they are made as a whole or in parts by unionized employees. As a customer, that's really all I care about. When I think about services I receive from unionized and non-unionized employees, it varies from C- to F levels of service. Will unionizing make the cars better or worse?