In the first quarter of this year, Germany's passenger car output fell by 11 percent compared to the same period last year, to 1,331,700 units, according to the data released by the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). Meanwhile, in March this year Germany's car output fell by 13 percent year on year, totaling 474,900 units.
During March this year, a total of 367,200 passenger cars were exported, decreasing nine percent compared to March 2012 and up 2.5 percent over the previous month. In the first quarter of the year, German passenger car exports amounted to 1,033,200 units, down nine percent compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, 281,200 new cars were registered in Germany in March, falling 17 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. German new car registrations in the first three months of 2013 amounted to 674,000 units, down 13 percent year on year.
The association noted that the decreases observed in the March figures were due to this year's Easter holiday, with two fewer working days in 2013 than in 2012. "However, we can also see that the difficult economic situation in Europe is also affecting the German passenger car market," stated VDA president Matthias Wissmann commenting on the figures. Wissmann assumed that the market will stabilize in the second quarter because the economic outlook for Germany is still robust.
