Exports and Production of Passenger Cars Much Higher Than in Previous Year – New Vehicle Registrations Relatively Stable

Frankfurt am Main, February 2, 2010. The recovery in foreign demand that commenced last year continued in early 2010. In January 2010, orders from outside Germany surpassed those of the same month last year by 38 percent. As in previous months, the volume of passenger car exports to most foreign markets was largely favorable. In January 2010, German manufacturers sold 264,500 passenger cars abroad, up by 18 percent from the same month last year.

Although domestic orders were down by 16 percent in January 2010 compared to the result recorded in the same month last year, due to the discontinuation of the German scrappage program, orders were as high as in the previous month when adjusted for seasonal effects. And following the dramatic fall in order backlogs over the fourth quarter of last year, levels here are now up by 9 percent from the figure for December 2009 and have risen to exceed the level of January 2009 by 21,600 units. At 181,500 units, new passenger car registrations were only 4 percent lower in January 2010 than in the same month last year, and they even rose by 13 percent from December when seasonal effects are taken into account.

Thanks to the improved export situation, the German plants produced 362,700 passenger cars in the first month of the year, an increase of 17 percent. Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), commented that "it’s possible that at least as many passenger cars will be produced in 2010 as in the previous year, thanks to the good beginning as a result of reviving foreign markets and further gains in market share despite the weaker domestic market.”