The German car market has declined again in May, with sales of just 293,500 new cars, over 11% down on May 2006.
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According to the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), Germany’s government department for motor transport, year to date new registrations are down 9.6% to 1.28 million cars.
The vehicle manufacturers’ trade association, the Verband der Automobilindustries (VDA) said the decline was due to an increase in the rate of value-added tax (VAT) from the beginning of the year and uncertainty about higher fuel prices and the climate change debate.
There were hopes that the German car market would show greater signs of recovery from the VAT-induced ‘payback’ by now.
The high volume brands have fared worst of all. In the first five months Ford sales were down 14.3% and Opel sales were down 15.5%. Market leader Volkswagen suffered a 11.6% reduction in demand.
Premium makes have for the most part outperformed the market. Mercedes has down the best with sales down just 0.4%, while Audi sales were down 6.4% and BMW down 8.9%. This is in part due to the fact that fleet sales have not declines as much as private registrations. Porsche actually managed to increase sales by three percent.
Of the other brands only Skoda managed to increase sales. Its sales were up 7.5% in the first months. Nissan and smart sales fell by more than a third, while even the mighty Toyota saw sales drop 4.4%.
