VW more than 20 percent in the least 'kleinzeitung.at

The European car market also suffered in October. The main reason is the conversion to a new method of testing exhaust gases.

9:59 am, November 15, 2018

In the case of the Volkswagen Group, sales dropped by more than a fifth in October. Overall, the negative trend observed since September has continued: many manufacturers have already experienced declines due to the conversion to the new WLTP exhaust gas test method.

The European Association of Acea Industries called this Thursday also to explain the recent development: the new registrations of October fell by 7.3% in the EU countries compared to the same month of the previous year on 1.08 million cars. Before the new standard came into force, manufacturers had still sold many models to the old standard.

Decreases in all major markets

In the VW group, sales in Europe fell by 21.5%, according to Acea. The automaker Opel, which was taken over by the French group PSA, recorded – with its sister British brand Vauxhall – a drop of 6.7%. In October, BMW registrations increased by 14.5%. For Daimler, the climb was 7.5%.

Demand has declined in all major European markets. Calculated since the beginning of the year, however, only Italy (-3.2%) and Great Britain (-7.2%) recorded a loss. In Spain, enrollment increased by 10.0%. Then come France (+ 5.7%) and Germany (+ 1.4%). Overall, statistics indicate an increase of 1.6% to 13.04 million vehicles.

More sales in China

industry expert Peter Foot The consulting firm EY expects the situation to return to normal in November. The year 2018 could result in a slight increase in sales of 2% for the market. Bernhard Mattes, president of the German Association of Automotive Industry (VDA), stressed that domestic automakers were able to sell many more cars in the first three quarters, for example in China.

For the German economy as a whole, however, the fall of the WLTP was already having consequences: the economic performance of the German Republic in the third quarter slightly decreased for the first time in three and a half years.