German Manufacturers Increase U.S. Light Vehicles Sales to nearly 1.4 Million

According to the latest research, in 2014 the German manufacturers pushed up their sales of light vehicles in the US market to nearly 1.4 million units (+2 percent) – a new record.

It represents a rise in sales of more than half (+54 percent) compared with 2010.

Most of this growth was seen in the light truck segment. Here the German OEMs achieved a year-on-year increase of almost 8 percent, with sales climbing to 405,200 units.

Passenger car sales by the German makers came to about 953,500 units, which was fractionally more than the previous year’s result. Currently, the German share of the U.S. car market is 12.4 percent.

Several factors support the German automakers’ strong presence in the American region:

• 46 percent of light vehicles sold by German producers in the US in 2014 were built in Germany
• More than one fifth (21 percent) came from plants in the United States
• 15 percent came from Mexico.

In 2014 the German automotive industry increased its worldwide exports by 2 percent to 4.3 million passenger cars.

For German companies, the U.S. is the number two destination country (after the UK). With 620,000 new cars going to the U.S., this means that one car in seven that Germany exports is destined for the United States.

SOURCE German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA)

Category: Featured, General Update, Vehicles