Germany In December 2012: Ach Du Mein Lieber

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: January 3rd, 2013

germany in december 2012 em ach du mein lieber em

The German car market ended the year with a bang – to the chin. Germany had shrugged-off the European contagion for most of the year, but in December, sales sagged by an unfestive 16.4 percent.

The holiday season could have something to do with the drop. The calendar was perfectly aligned this year, providing the allegedly hard-working Germans with a two week holiday at the expense of only five days taken off. Large parts of the German population were not even in the country, let alone at car dealers.

For the year, sales in Germany are down only 2.9 percent to exactly 3,082,504 units, data courtesy of the Kraftfahrtbundesamt.

Market leader Volkswagen is down 2 percent for the year, compensated by other group brands: Audi up 6.3 percent, Porsche up 9.8 percent, Skoda up 3.2 percent, SEAT up 15.4 percent.

Opel’s sales are down 16.1 percent for the year. Ford’s 10.7 percent.

Elsewhere in Europe, Car sales in France, Spain and Italy in 2012 fell to the lowest levels in years, says Reuters.

Italy’s car sales were down 22.5 percent in December. The year ended down19.9 percent to 1.4 million units, their lowest levels since 1979.
French car registrations fell 15 percent in December. The full year ended down 14 percent to 1.90 million vehicles.
Spain’s December sales contracted 23 percent. The full-year total of 699,589 cars is down 13 percent.

#BertelSchmitt #Germany #GermanyInDecember2012 #Sales #SalesDecember2012

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.

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MeaCulpa on Jan 03, 2013

In other news, sales in Sweden dropped - down to about average for the last 10 years - by about 10% from last year. 2/3 new cars are now diesels.

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Robert Gordon on Jan 06, 2013

Fascinating trend.

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