Automobile production in Germany from 2008 to 2020

Four stages of production and sales of German automobile industry since 2008

Update October 18th, 2021 - The automobile production in Germany, also including production for export, exceeded pre-crisis level of 2008 (104.3) in 2011 with 109.3 index points thus ending the economic crisis for this sector.

Afterwards production grew somewhat, then stagnated again on a marginally higher level above pre-crisis level. A cyclical upturn, usual after a crisis, failed.

Initial 2014 a slight and continuous growth by 1.3% p.a. began, which kept on until mid-2018.

Mid-2018 a change of trend from growth to decline occurred. By end of 2020 the trend of automobile production declined by 16.3% per year.

The four stages of sales of the automobile industry from 2008 to 2020

The growth of sales from 2008 to 2020 can be divided into four stages.

Initial 2012, i.e. in the fifth year after crisis break out, sales could again reach the pre-crisis level, however, not exceed in a sustainable way. Sales went over in a stagnation for two years.

This stagnation was replaced by a stage of growth for four years with a plus of 4.1% p.a.

Mid-2018 a change of trend from growth to decline happened also in sales. Since then sales are declining with fluctuations by minus 7.5% per year.

Since automobile production is highly internationalized, the course of production on the German site does not completely reflect the situation of the whole sector.

In regard to the output of production the global market share of automobiles produced in Germany diminshed from 7.5% to 5.8% in the seven years from 2010 to 2017 while the market share of China's automobile production increased from 23.5% to 29.8%.