GERMANY: VDA say car production should remain in excess of five million units this year

Last week it was reported that Europe is showing signs of a slow-down. This has been countered by the VDA, Germany's car industry association, which forecast a stronger domestic market as well as a buoyant export market. The VDA say car production should remain in excess of five million units this year, matching the 5.3 million for 1999. The VDA told a news conference this week, following a fall of 10% in car registrations in July, that there was a glitch in output during the first half of the year when car production dropped by 3% but the reason was because VW moved some production out of the country.