In the first half of this year the German group brands increased their sales of light vehicles (passenger cars and light trucks) in the US by 21 per cent to 591,700 units. They therefore expanded faster than the market as a whole, which grew by 15 per cent to 7.25 million vehicles. In the passenger car sector, by the end of June the German manufacturers had pushed up their sales by 23 per cent to around 440,000 new cars, while the total passenger car market in the United States increased by 18.6 per cent to 3.74 million units.
"This means that our market share in passenger cars rose to 11.8 per cent in the first half-year. That is growth of half a percentage point compared with the same period last year. It underlines the competitiveness of our brands when our OEMs make such dynamic progress on the US market, which is showing healthy growth itself. Now we are doing better and better, both in the premium segment and in the volume segment,” stressed Matthias Wissmann, President of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA). In light trucks the German group brands increased their sales by 15 per cent in the first half of 2012, while the overall light truck market expanded by 11 per cent. The German vehicle-makers were able to maintain this rapid growth in June. They increased their sales of light vehicles by nearly 18 per cent to 107,000 units. Passenger car sales climbed by almost 19 per cent, while in light trucks the German group brands recorded a rise of nearly 16 per cent, according to VDA.