US becoming more important to German carmakers
The US market automotive market expanded by 6% last year, reaching a record 17.4 million new light vehicles, according the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA).
It expects the market to continue to grow this year, albeit at a slower rate of 1% to 17.5 million vehicles.
“However, there certainly are some challenges,” said VDA president Matthias Wissmann. “The passenger car segment, where the German brands are strong, is losing importance. But we still managed to maintain our market share at 12.3%.
“The German auto makers are particularly strong in premium passenger cars and premium CUVs – their market share exceeds 40% in both of these segments.
“The US is becoming more important to the German OEMs all the time, not only as a market but also as a production location. In 2015 they pushed up their production at US sites by 13% to 810,000 units.
“A good 40% of US production was sold in the United States, and nearly one quarter was exported both to Asia and to Europe. Exports to Asia and Europe both showed double-digit growth last year. I find it remarkable that the German manufacturers have thus increased both their exports from the US and the value of their exports from Germany to the US. The result is quite clearly a win-win situation for the national economies of both countries.”
