Unscathed By Carmageddon, Germans Power Ahead

Are there any winners of carmageddon? You bet there are: The Germans. They were sheltered from the American meltdown by virtue of a minuscule market share. At home in Europe, they were saved in 2009 by European cash for clunkers largesse. Following that, they could not make enough cars to power the insatiable export machine.Development pretty much came to a halt in the U.S. and Japan in 2009. It yet has to reach full revs. Flush with cash, German manufacturers never had to stop the development of new cars. Due to the long development cycles, we just begin to see the beginnings of this effect. Bavaria’s BMW is looking back at unheard-of sales numbers in February. A total of 111,720 BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce vehicles were delivered to customers, an increase of 21.7 percent compared to February 2010. It’s not just a flash in the pan: Sales in the first two months were 24.7 percent higher than in the same months a year before.“Our young vehicle fleet is currently doing exceptionally well from the recovery of the car markets in many regions of the world,” said Ian Robertson, responsible for Sales and Marketing at BMW.BMW grew everywhere. In Europe, up16.8 percent . In the Americas were up 14.7 percent . In Asia up 49.3 percent.Most amazing: Sales of Rolls Royce cars stood at 462 in February, up 200 percent. There were times when less than 1000 were sold in a whole year. The folks at Volkswagen could not produce quite as sensational percentages, but sensational numbers nonetheless. In January and February, the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand delivered 758,100 vehicles to customers worldwide, an increase of 14.1 percent on the comparable prior-year period.Like BMW, the Volkswagen passenger brand grew in all global regions. And like at BMW, the Asia / Pacific region reported the most growth with 22.8 percent.