The German car manufacturers have best weathered the corona crisis

According to an industry study by the consulting company EY, the major German car manufacturers have best weathered the corona crisis in a country comparison last year. Daimler, Volkswagen and BMW, with a sales decline of 10 percent, a drop in sales of 14 percent and a decrease in operating profit of 26 percent, performed significantly better on average than large manufacturers from other nations, the analysis said. Across the industry, the total sales of the 17 largest manufacturers worldwide fell by 13 percent in the previous year. The car sales went down by 16 percent, the operating profit by as much as 37 percent. The French manufacturers in particular were hit particularly hard, their sales plummeting by 20 percent, while sales fell by 24 percent and operating profit by 84 percent. According to the study, manufacturers from the USA and Japan also lagged behind German companies in all three categories. Above all, good business in China saved the German carmakers' balance sheets halfway. Overall, almost every fourth new car (39.4 percent) from Volkswagen, BMW and Daimler was handed over to a Chinese customer in the previous year. In 2019, China's share of total sales by German companies was 35.3 percent, in previous years it was even lower. If you look at all 17 of the world's largest car companies, the total sales of cars from these manufacturers in China only fell by 4 percent. In the USA (14 percent) and Western Europe (25 percent), on the other hand, the declines were much more pronounced.