VDA President: Willingness to buy a new car is rising
Wissmann: Environmental Bonus Results in a Noticeable Improvement in the Automobile Business
Frankfurt am Main/Berlin, January 31, 2009. "The German automotive industry welcomes the rapid and non-bureaucratic implementation of the environmental bonus," said Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). "It is also good that the CO2-based motor vehicle tax has now been resolved. As a result, customers can plan for the long term when buying a car. Although sales figures are not yet available for January, there are indications that the environmental bonus has helped to bring about a noticeable improvement in business in the second half of the month. People are again going to dealerships and their willingness to buy a car is growing. These are the first encouraging signs of a stabilization of the German passenger car market, which continues to struggle, however. Further momentum is set to come from a marketing campaign that German automakers are currently running to make the government's environmental bonus even more attractive."
People's positive response to the environmental bonus has been an eye opener to all scaremongers, professional pessimists and self-proclaimed automotive experts, said Wissmann. The implementation of the environmental bonus regulation has obviously triggered considerable sales momentum and will help to safeguard jobs at the manufacturers and suppliers. The old vehicles that will be scrapped for the environmental bonus have a fuel consumption that is on average 2 liters per 100 km higher than that of new models. The renewal of Germany's vehicle fleet will not only lead to a substantial drop in CO2 emissions, but will also further reduce "classic" pollutant emissions. "That will benefit the climate, the environment and humanity," said Wissmann.
"In addition, we also have an agreement on the reform of the motor vehicle tax, which will pave the way for better climate protection and for lower taxation of environmentally friendly compact and mid-sized cars. In combination with an environmental bonus and the suspension of the tax for Euro 4 and Euro 5-compatible vehicles until the middle of the year, the reform should be able to provide additional momentum for the renewal of the vehicle fleet and therefore for the automotive market as a whole."
Wissmann added that the linear tax increase also guarantees that every gram of CO2 is assigned an equal value, thus fulfilling one of the VDA's key demands for the planned reform. "Those whose cars emit more will pay more," Wissmann pointed out. "It finally provides consumers with the hoped-for long-term planning security that allows them to make purchasing decisions. The German automakers offer customers more than 80 models that consume less than 5 liters of fuel per 100 km. This means that consumers can choose from a big selection of vehicles that are CO2 friendly and therefore subject to a favorable tax rate."
The solution that was successful is the one that makes the most ecological and economic sense, said Wissmann. He therefore expects the package of measures to lead to a rapid renewal of the overall vehicle fleet. "The average age of vehicles on the road in Germany is over 8.5 years," Wissmann explained. "This high average age also leads to increased fuel consumption. If we could reduce the average age of the vehicles in use in Germany by one year, we would save 800 million liters of fuel annually and reduce CO2 emissions by 2 million tons."
