Germany In February 2013: Going South

Bad omen for Europe: The German car market, considered one of the healthier in Europe, was down 10.5 percent in February, compared to the same month in the prior year. News from other European volume markets are worse.   Germany's Kraftfahrtbundesamt, which keeps track of registrations, reports a continuation of a strange and somewhat scary trend:  Compact and mid-sized cars, usually the bread and butter of the German market see losses of more than 20 percent. Growth is in mini-cars (up! 20.6 percent) and in the Upper Class (+ 13 percent). Among the German brands , Opel (-21.2 percent) and Ford (-19,4  percent) were loss-leaders (the KBA counts Opel and Ford as German, they have been there longer than Volkswagen.)   New car sales in Italy were down 17.1 percent in February, Reuters reports. Sales in Spain were down 9.8 percent, those in France dropped 12 percent. German data (in German) can be downloaded here. from The Truth About Cars http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com

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