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VDA: Car Sales in Germany Will Dip 2% Next Year
New-car sales in Germany are up about 3% this year and will reach at least 3.4 million units, thanks to a strong economy and sales incentives for diesel models, according to VDA.
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New-car sales in Germany are up about 3% this year and will reach at least 3.4 million units, thanks to a strong economy and sales incentives for diesel models, according to VDA.
But the trade group predicts that cooling demand for diesels next year will cause deliveries to decline 2% in 2018, Reuters reports.
VDA President Matthias Wissmann says the threat of urban bans on diesels is having a chilling effect on diesel demand. He notes that diesel sales last month plunged 17%, and their market share shrank to 34%. That ratio compares with a share of 45% in 2016 and less than 40% this year.
Registrations of new passenger vehicles in Germany peaked at 3.8 million units in 2009. Deliveries were pushed up that year by a government scrappage scheme introduced to spur demand after the global economic slump. Aside from that aberrational year, Wissmann tells reporters, any level between 3.4 million and 3.5 million is “a historic high.”
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