Germany In October 2012: Up Slightly, But Not Really
Germany’s new car market was up 0.5 percent in October. What looked like bucking the European downtrend was quickly discounted by market observers who noted that October had two more working days than October last year. Taking this into account, Germany is down with the rest of Europe. Meanwhile, sales in France dropped 7.8 percent, and those in Spain are down a gutwrenching 21.7 percent.
Data published by Germany’s Kraftfahrtbundesamt show Volkswagen up 10 percent and its premium brand Audi up 15.5 percent.
Chevrolet decreased a whopping 29.8 percent. GM’s Alliance partner Peugeot is down 16.5 percent. Ford is treading water. Fiat is up a surprising 8.9 percent.
Opel lost 15.2 percent. Reuters remarks that “a new money-back guarantee in place since late September” apparently could not stop the bleeding at Opel. Opel’s market share in Germany is “6.1 percent — a new low for this year. According to the CAR think tank in Duisburg, demand for Opels in Germany has never been lower than in this year.”
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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A n00b question, but why does the Neuzulassungen table use the Mark rather than the Euro? Is this a portent?
Heh....oops. Thanks