The German automobile industry association, the VDA, has delivered a downbeat assessment of the situation facing the German automotive industry at a special conference hosted by the German business newspaper, Handelsblatt.
At the event, VDA chairman Bernd Gottschalk, commenting on March’s poor German market figures, said that people who might otherwise consider buying a new car were being deterred by fears that the Middle East conflict will impact further on petrol prices. The VDA reports that German new car registrations in March were 8% down on year ago levels.
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Even allowing for calendarisation factors related to Easter holidays, the decline is causing concern.
Perhaps even more worrying for the German carmakers than depressed demand at home is lower orders from export sources. The latest VDA figures also indicate that export shipments are far from filling the gap as they have tended to do in the past.
Handelsblatt says that according to figures presented by Gottschalk at the conference, overall exports in March were down no less than 16% on last year, with the decline in exports to Spain and Italy ‘particularly dramatic’.
The report says that Gottschalk also pointed out that production is declining in response to lower orders and that some 17% fewer cars were assembled in Germany in March 2002 than a year earlier.
The VDA’s assessment of German auto industry prospects contrasts with BMW’s upbeat first quarter sales report issued yesterday.
