Automotive News - May 24, 2010 - 24B

24B • MAY 24, 2010

EV summit disappoints German auto industry
Henning Krogh
hkrogh@craincom.de

Canada light-vehicle sales, April & 4 months
Canada sales by model available online at autonews.com/datacenter
April 2010 April 2009 Percent change 4 mos. 2010 4 mos. Percent 2009 change

Doubts about whether Germany’s “national electric mobility platform” will be successful are emerging in the auto industry after an electric-vehicle summit involving leading politicians and car industry leaders in Berlin. Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to make Germany the world’s leading market for electric cars. But her government’s refusal to subsidize electric-car purchases disappointed some in the industry — including Daimler AG CEO Dieter Zetsche, who supports state sales incentives for electric vehicles. The VDA, the German auto industry association, doesn’t want to adopt Zetsche’s position officially because of Germany’s high debt level. But it’s asking the government to examine “market incentive systems in an international context.”

Bosch’s Bernd Bohr sees German government incentives for EVs as problematic. At distribution time, “there will be even more wrangling.” Other countries spend billions on electric-car subsidies. The VDA says electric drive “will be much more expensive than conventional powertrains, even in the middle term.” “Today, the additional cost for a midsize vehicle comes to about 15,000 euros [about $18,500], and this can be reduced to 10,000 to 7,000 euros in the middle term,” according to a confidential VDA policy paper obtained by Automobilwoche, a German sister publication of Automotive News. The VDA also has its doubts

whether the industry can make rapid progress toward the government’s electric mobility goal, which calls for a million electric cars on German roads by 2020. “The batteries for a high-volume electric mobility market are still not available,” the paper said. Burkhard Weller, owner of the Weller dealership group, said car buyers already are haggling over every cent of the cost of a vehicle. “It’s impossible to set prices several thousand euros higher for electric cars,” he said. Many suppliers only want research into electric mobility promoted at this point. Bernd Bohr, the head of vehicle technology at Robert Bosch GmbH, sees government incentive programs as a potential source of problems. “When it is a matter of distributing the funds,” he said, “there will be even more wrangling.” c

BMW division (D/I) .............. 2,681 Mini (I) ................................. 411 Total car (D/I) .................. 2,169 Total truck (D/I) ................ 923 BMW (D/I) ........................ 3,092 Chrysler Division (D/I).......... 1,804 Dodge/Ram........................... 15,913 Jeep...................................... 2,913 Total car (D/I) .................. 3,637 Total truck (D/I) ................ 16,993 CHRYSLER GROUP ............. 20,630 Mercedes-Benz (D/I)............. 2,777 Smart (I)............................... 205 Total car (D/I) .................. 1,791 Total truck (D/I) ................ 1,191 DAIMLER AG ..................... 2,982 FERRARI (I)*..................... 8 Ford division (D/I) ................ 22,716 Lincoln.................................. 710 Mercury ................................ 4 Volvo (I) ............................... 633 Total car (D/I) .................. 5,375 Total truck (D/I) ................ 18,688 FORD MOTOR CO. (D/I) ........ 24,063 Buick..................................... 1,275 Cadillac ................................. 698 Chevrolet (D/I)...................... 13,609 GMC ..................................... 7,040 Hummer ............................... 41 Pontiac ................................. 787 Saab (D/I)† ........................... – Saturn................................... 1 Total car (D/I) .................. 7,823 Total truck (D/I) ................ 15,628 GENERAL MOTORS (D/I) ....... 23,451 Acura (D/I)............................ 1,708 Honda Division (D/I)............. 11,388 Total car (D/I) .................. 8,168 Total truck (D/I) ................ 4,928 HONDA (D/I) ..................... 13,096 Hyundai division (D/I)........... 12,495 Kia (I) ................................... 5,057 Total car (D/I) .................. 11,440 Total truck (D/I) ................ 6,112 HYUNDAI-KIA (D/I).............. 17,552 Jaguar (I)................................ 74 Land Rover (I) ........................ 225 JAGUAR LAND ROVER N.A. (I) 299 LAMBORGHINI (I) ............... 6 MASERATI (I) .................... 12 Total car (D/I) .................. 6,153 Total truck (D/I) ................ 2,185 MAZDA (D/I) ..................... 8,338 Total car (D/I) .................. 918 Total truck (D/I) ................ 695 MITSUBISHI (D/I) ............... 1,613 Infiniti (D/I)........................... 613 Nissan Division (D/I) ............ 6,576 Total car (D/I) .................. 5,065 Total truck (D/I) ................ 2,124 NISSAN (D/I) ..................... 7,189 Total car (I) ..................... 184 Total truck (I)................... 41 PORSCHE (I) ..................... 225 SAAB SPYKER AUTOMOBILE† – Total car (D/I) .................. 2,582 Total truck (D).................. 58 SUBARU (D/I) .................... 2,640 Total car (I) ..................... 552 Total truck (D/I) ................ 190 SUZUKI (D/I) ..................... 742 Lexus (D/I) ........................... 1,370 Toyota Division (D/I) ............ 16,303 Total car (D/I) .................. 11,169 Total truck (D/I) ................ 6,504 TOYOTA MOTOR (D/I) .......... 17,673 Audi (I) ................................. 1,733 Bentley (I)............................. 11 Volkswagen division (D/I)..... 4,394 Total car (D/I) .................. 4,888 Total truck (D/I) ................ 1,250 VOLKSWAGEN AG (D/I) ........ 6,138 Domestic car .................. 39,746 Import car ...................... 32,268 Total car .......................... 72,014 Domestic truck ................ 67,952 Import truck .................... 9,783 Total truck ........................ 77,735 TOTAL CANADA.................. 149,749

1,931 366 1,757 540 2,297 1,579 11,087 2,645 3,298 12,013 15,311 2,267 250 1,515 1,002 2,517 10 18,295 473 14 613 4,687 14,708 19,395 888 441 14,570 5,001 70 7,537 160 969 10,549 19,087 29,636 1,430 11,865 9,968 3,327 13,295 10,809 4,276 10,276 4,809 15,085 88 138 226 12 12 6,114 2,081 8,195 1,082 762 1,844 542 6,532 5,068 2,006 7,074 103 88 191 – 1,996 54 2,050 688 229 917 1,621 19,599 14,910 6,310 21,220 1,251 7 3,496 3,908 846 4,754 41,490 34,551 76,041 58,221 9,779 68,000 144,041

39% 12 23 71 35 14 44 10 10 41 35 22 –18 18 19 18 –20 24 50 –71 3 15 27 24 44 58 –7 41 –41 –90 – – –26 –18 –21 19 –4 –18 48 –1 16 18 11 27 16 –16 63 32 –50 0 1 5 2 –15 –9 –13 13 1 0 6 2 79 –53 18 – 29 7 29 –20 –17 –19 –15 –17 –25 3 –17 39 57 26 25 48 29 –4 –7 –5 17 0 14 4%

7,597 1,085 6,150 2,532 8,682 4,981 50,356 10,748 10,745 55,340 66,085 9,036 642 5,855 3,823 9,678 31 72,446 2,396 34 2,044 16,792 60,128 76,920 3,092 2,274 41,528 20,930 122 3,549 – 2 24,020 47,477 71,497 5,106 37,689 25,937 16,858 42,795 38,093 14,911 33,663 19,341 53,004 222 829 1,051 23 43 19,267 6,323 25,590 3,447 2,978 6,425 2,369 22,858 17,553 7,674 25,227 438 161 599 – 8,372 224 8,596 2,013 899 2,912 4,528 54,829 38,609 20,748 59,357 4,963 20 13,819 14,988 3,814 18,802 127,217 100,951 228,168 215,520 33,629 249,149 477,317

5,712 909 5,080 1,541 6,621 5,554 38,774 10,178 12,999 41,507 54,506 7,045 693 4,999 2,739 7,738 35 57,226 1,268 64 1,753 13,790 46,521 60,311 2,345 1,201 38,456 14,182 229 19,811 423 3,420 29,614 50,453 80,067 4,730 35,735 27,515 12,950 40,465 31,146 11,877 27,977 15,046 43,023 220 604 824 25 27 17,783 6,288 24,071 3,553 2,827 6,380 1,944 21,711 16,717 6,938 23,655 317 238 555 – 6,186 191 6,377 2,278 917 3,195 4,287 53,239 39,352 18,174 57,526 3,245 12 10,266 11,072 2,451 13,523 124,955 94,584 219,539 177,964 31,421 209,385 428,924

33% 19 21 64 31 –10 30 6 –17 33 21 28 –7 17 40 25 –11 27 89 –47 17 22 29 28 32 89 8 48 –47 –82 – – –19 –6 –11 8 5 –6 30 6 22 26 20 29 23 1 37 28 –8 59 8 1 6 –3 5 1 22 5 5 11 7 38 –32 8 – 35 17 35 –12 –2 –9 6 3 –2 14 3 53 67 35 35 56 39 2 7 4 21 7 19 11%

*Estimate †The sale of Saab to Spyker Cars was final on Feb. 23, 2010; Saab will begin reporting Canadian light-vehicle sales again in late 2010. Note: (D) = produced in North America; (I) = imported to Canada; vehicles are domestic unless noted Source: Automotive News Data Center, Association of International Automobile Manufacturers of Canada and company sources

Canada sales up 4% in April
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Sales of new light vehicles in Canada rose for the fifth straight month in April, climbing 4 percent from a depressed April 2009 to 149,749 cars and trucks. Ford Motor Co. leapfrogged General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp. to lead all automakers in Canada last month. Chrysler Group also passed Toyota. Ford sales jumped 24 percent to 24,063, as Ford division led all brands at 22,716, up 24 percent. Sales at No. 2 GM tumbled 21 percent to 23,451, hurt by the winding down of Saturn, Pontiac and Hummer. Chevrolet sales slid 7 percent to 13,609, GMC’s rose 41 percent to 7,040, and Buick’s surged 44 percent to 1,275. Chrysler rebounded 35 percent in April to 20,630 and the No. 3 spot. Toyota slumped 17 percent to 17,673, falling to No. 4 from No. 2 a year earlier. Toyota Division sales fell 17 percent to 16,303. Among the other top six automakers, Hyundai-Kia Automotive rose 16 percent to 17,552, and Honda Motor Co. dipped 1 percent to 13,096. Through April, sales in Canada this year rose 11 percent to 477,317. — James B. Treece

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Automotive News - May 24, 2010

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