Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA) head Martin Wissmann has said that German automakers go on the offensive in times of crisis.
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In particular, they are focused on leading new environmental technologies at the Detroit show, in an effort to raise their US market share from 7% now to 10%.
Wissmann said the US market would be difficult during 2009 but there was some hope things might pick up in the fourth quarter.
German automakers had hoped to sell over 1m cars in the US in 2008 but managed 890,000, boosting share from 6% to almost 7%.
Wissmann said small cars accounted for almost a third of German sales there. He saw opportunities for German brands with diesel and was optimistic that the technology’s share of US sales would grow.
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By GlobalData
