German Automakers and Dealers Self-Registering Cars to Hide Falling Sales

The European economy is not at its healthiest at the moment. Even Germany is starting to struggle, and reports are surfacing that German automakers and dealers are self registering cars in order to hide falling sales. 

May car sales in Germany were down 4.8% to 289,977 units. However, the number of cars registered by private households was just 38.7% compared to 42.2% in May, 2011. In the first quarter of this year German automakers and dealers have set a new record for vehicle registrations by registering about 30% of the new cars this quarter. During a normal sales period, the dealers would only represent 15% of Germany's car registrations. The these dealer registered cars are sold as "young used cars" at a reduced price that make it even more difficult to sell new cars because these basically unused older cars are competing with them at a lower price. 

Through the first five months of this year, Germany's car sales have been up 0.3% over 2011. 

While sales are basically stagnant production is down. Germany's automakers produced 17% fewer cars in May compared to last year. They are reacting to the lower sales in Western Europe.

Source: Automotive News Europe