Germans car buyers account for one in every ten cars sold in neighbouring Poland thanks to currency movements and the Berlin government’s incentives, the Deloitte consultancy has said.
Deloittes says that some 1.2m German consumers applied for an EUR2,500 cash payment for scrapping old cars in favour of more efficient new ones, a number well ahead of budgeted expectations.
The plan to boost the auto industry does not require drivers to buy at home so many Germans have purchased in Poland, encouraged by lower prices after the Polish zloty lost as much as a third of its value against the euro since last summer, Deloiite says.
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“Because of the zloty’s favourable exchange rate against the euro, buying a car in Poland is more advantageous than buying the same vehicle in Germany,” said Przemyslaw Kromer, manager at Deloitte Advisory in Warsaw, speaking to Reuters.
“It’s not clear how long this will last, but judging from the most recent information this could last even to September,” he told Reuters.
New car sales in Poland rose 1.2% in the first quarter to nearly 88,000, according to auto research agency Samar, which said the gain came from buyers from Germany and Slovakia.
