Registrations of new passenger cars in Germany worsened in September, with numbers declining by 11% year-on-year to 250,082 units. Comparatively, the country’s automotive industry accounted for sales of 280,689 units in September 2011. According to data compiled by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), last month’s registrations were up month-on-month, compared with the 226,600 cars registered in Germany in August 2012.
Both German and foreign brands reported declining numbers from a year earlier. A total of 176,400 local brand cars were registered in Germany last month, down 12% from the 200,501 units in September 2011. Foreign makes fell 8% from 80,188 units to 73,682.
While domestic registrations declined 11% in September, new car exports fared even worse, with numbers dropping by 13% to 349,400 units. In the corresponding month in 2011, a total of 422,695 new cars were exported.
With declining domestic and export sales, production of cars in Germany declined in September by 16% year-on-year to 450,600 units. This compared with 562,504 new cars produced in the country a year ago.
According to VDA, new passenger car registrations in Germany dropped to 2,358,800 units in the first three quarters of this year. This figure was 2% lower than the 2,401,736 cars registered in the country during the January-September 2011 period.
