Thirty thousand jobs in German car dealerships and service workshops are currently at risk, according to the president of the dealers’ trade association, the Zentralverband Deutsche Kraftfahrzeuggewerbe (ZDK), Robert Rademacher.


Around 470,000 people are employed in 40,000 dealers and workshops represented by the trade association but this figure is expected to fall, according to Rademacher, speaking to the Frankfurte Allgemeine Zeitung.


The ZDK is forecasting a further fall in car sales in Germany in 2009 to just 2.8m units. Last year sales were 3.1m units.


The ZDK is slightly more pessimistic than the vehicle manufacturers trade association, the Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA), which forecast 2.9m for 2009.