Official numbers for July sales are not out yet (the Kraftfahrtbundesamt will report later today aor tomorrow), but Automobilwoche [sub]  heard from the usually reliable Verband der Importeure VDIK (German Association of Car Importers) that new registrations dropped in July by 30 percent compared to July 2009. Germans bought 237.500 cars in July. This is bad, but not as bad as it sounds.

As mentioned in previous posts about monthly car sales in Deutschland, this slump is expected and will continue for a while. We are comparing with the peaks of Abwrackprämien excesses in 2009 (the peak was in June 2009): Don’t get excited. However, 237K units is solidly below the 2008 number: Not good.  As we said  last time: It won’t be until next year before Germany will report real growth in domestic car sales.

Production is a completely different story: Powered by the low Euro and high demand, mostly in China and Southeast Asia, the German export machine is hitting on all cylinders. Due to exports, the German car industry is producing more cars than in the heydays of the Abwrackprämie. Also, the exports are mainly the bigger bore and costlier models.