German car production recovers, remains below pre-pandemic levels

Output of new cars in Germany kept increasing in March, but production remains far below pre-Covid-19-crisis levels, Kallanish hears from automotive association VDA.

According to the association’s latest statistics, 373,900 passenger cars came from German assembly lines in the month of March. This is a good deal more than in February (323,600) or in January (262,800). That was partly attributable to a lower number of working days, but VDA also previously cited semiconductor shortages as a major factor. Notably, it does not mention the semiconductor issue in its report for March.

The month marked a turnaround in that it showed a year-on-year increase, by as much as 29% over March 2020, which was already affected by the stoppages of the first Covid-19 lockdowns. Still, the current production figure remains well below those of typical months prior to the crisis, VDA maintains.

For the first quarter, statistics shows a year-on-year drop by 8% to 933,600 units. This reflects a combination of the y-o-y dips in January (-23%) and February (-17%), and the increase in March. However, VDA refrains from calling the March performance a turnaround.

Christian Koehl Germany