Hard Shoulder:THE ANNUAL Geneva Motor Show may have opened to the continued financial crisis in the industry, but a jump in German car sales last month gave unexpected hope, with the head of the German motor industry association saying car markets may start to recover this year.
If other countries’ stimulus packages gained traction, it could lead to the “gradual recovery of global sales in the second half of the year”, said Matthias Wissmann.
State incentives to scrap old cars and switch to new models with lower emissions helped sales in Europe’s biggest market leap to 278,000 vehicles in February, up 21 per cent from 2008’s figures, the first rise in German new car sales in half a year.