Germany In March 2012: No Crash

Stories of Greek defaults and Italian austerity programs make you think that Europe as a whole is just about to implode. Not true at all. The export-oriented German economy profits from the still relatively low Euro. The good mood in Germany is reflected in the number of new cars that were registered in March. Germany's Kraftfahrtbundesamt reports a 3.4 percent rise in March, compared to the same month of 2011. As you can see from the graph above, 2012 new car sales in Germany shape up as a repeat of 2011. Most German makes and makers are doing fine. Volkswagen increased its sales by 9.2 percent, BMW 11.6 percent, Porsche could increase its sales a whopping 47.4 percent. Ford lost 1.3 percent. Opel lost a painful 12.3 percent in March, while Chevrolet sales rose 32.5 percent. Opel's share of the German market sunk to 7 percent for march and the first quarter of 2012. Hyundai (+22.9 percent) and Kia (+35.4 percent) continue to roll up the market for Asian imports. In the first three months of the year, Hyundai sold 26,137 cars in Germany, Toyota and Lexus sold only 22,955. 47.9 percent of the 773,636 new cars sold in the first quarter run in diesel. 4,020 units were hybrids, 694  were pure EVs, 3,066 run on compressed gas. Full statistics (in German, PDF) can be downloaded here. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

puts the internet to work for you. via task 680102