And we are not talking of a 40 percent increase when compared with April 2009, but with May 2008. German new car registrations rose to 390,000 in the fifth month of the year, continuing the trend set in April with the 19.4 percent increase registered then.
Even if sales figures for every German producer are yet to be made public, German VDIK is now taking into account the possibility of raising their forecast for 2009 to 3.5 million units, half a million more than the initial forecast.
The increase is largely due to the now infamous scrappage scheme launched by the German government. The incentive came into effect in February and calls for a 2,500 euros discount to be made to every customer who buys a new car and turn in an at least nine years old vehicle.
Initially, the federal government planned to spend 1.5 billion euro to help boost this industry sector. Now, when faced with these amazing figures, that amount has been raised to 5 billion euro. The scheme is in effect until the end of this year.
Following the German lead, other countries turned to this type of measures as well. As we reported yesterday, scrappage scheme are in effect across the continent, with various degrees of success. The bottom line is that even if in some parts of Europe these schemes have not increased sales, they at least put a stop to the ever declining number reported on a monthly basis.
Google News