Germany In July 2012: Down. Opel: Way Down
German new car sales are no longer Teflon-coated. New car sales in Deutschland were down 5 percent in July, Germany’s Kraftfahrtbundesamt reports.
Opel sales are down 18.6 percent, those of its alliance partner PSA are down 21.2 percent. Chevrolet sales are down 24.2 percent at a homeopathic level of 1,948 units. Chrysler is up 55.3 percent on 688 units. BMW sales are down 17.0 percent, while Audi sales are up 14.3 percent. Ford, down 4.4 percent, is in line with the market. Volkswagen is down only 1.5 percent and could increase its market share to 23.6 percent. Opel’s July market share is down to 6.8 percent.
Germany is Europe’s biggest car market. With the bad news from volume markets Italy (down 21.4 percent), Spain (down 17 percent) and France (down 7 percent), ACEA’s Europe report is expected to look awful.
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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Middle brands such as Ford and Opel have been crunched by BMW, Audi and Mercedes. They have successfully taken market share off traditional middle brand buyers who used to buy Vectras and Mondeos in Europe. Why buy a Ford/Opel when you can drive an entry level Benz or BM and try to impress your neighbours. Often their "German" car is built in Eastern Europe instead. This raises an interesting question. What do the middle brands (both European and Japanese) stand for? Their traditonal market is been captured by the Koreans, whilst their higher spec margin car buyers are being taken by the Germans...
I think itsnotagsr may have hit the nail on the head. Opel and Ford have been squeezed a bit from above and below. But the same thing was happening to Mercedes and BMW 20 years ago when Lexus and Infiniti matched them on quality and amenities, beat them in reliability and undercut them severely on price. The Focus is a class leader, but Ford Europe just got hit with a loss last quarter. Is a Golf really that much better than an Astra? My guess is no, and the Astra is a sharper design in my opinion, especially in 3-door form. Golfs and Jettas have been criticized for mediocrity themselves. if I can get a 1-series BMW for nearly the same money as a Golf, Jetta or an Astra, what's the point of any of them?