German post-scrappage sales remain bouyant

New car registrations in Germany grew by around 20 percent year-on-year in November according to a source at the VDIK foreign carmakers’ association. This is despite the German government’s scrappage incentive running out of funds back in September. Growth in the January-to-November period was also up, around 25 percent, the source said.

New-car sales are set for a strong year-end in most of the major European markets, although this is compared to 2008 which makes it a weak comparison base. However the government incentives that will soon draw to a close in markets such as France and Italy and, of course, here in the UK, does mean that the longer-term future for carmakers still remains uncertain.

In France, new-car sales rose 48.4 percent in November and 7.6 percent in the first 11 months of the year according to carmakers’ association the CCFA and Italy’s Transport Ministry said the country’s new-car registrations were up 31.25 percent in November at 182,976 units from a year earlier. In Spain car sales rose 37.3 percent last month.

Source: AutoNews Europe