German car manufacturers produced significantly fewer vehicles last year. Due to the weaker international demand, production and export declined, the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) announced on Monday. According to this, almost 4.7 million cars were manufactured in 2019 as a whole – a decrease of nine percent and the lowest level since 1997.
The decline in exports abroad was even more pronounced: Almost 3.5 million cars delivered to customers worldwide in 2019 mean a decrease of 13 percent compared to the previous year.
In December, German carmakers exported around 213,000 cars, 14 percent less than a year earlier. Production in the last month of last year was around 276,000 vehicles – a drop of seven percent.
In contrast, the number of newly registered cars in Germany increased last year. According to the VDA, the car market grew by five percent in 2019 to 3.6 million new registrations. Most recently, the market volume was higher with 3.9 million cars in 2009, the association said. In December 2019, new registrations of around 283,000 cars exceeded the previous year’s level by 20 percent.
New registrations of foreign brands rose by five percent to just under 1.1 million vehicles in 2019 as a whole. In December, the increase was around 37 percent with around 96,000 cars.
Source: Apa / Ag.
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