Skid marks in automobile sales

Skid marks in automobile sales

The switch to the stricter WLTP cycle at least meant that customers quickly stormed the car dealerships in the summer. An above-average number of new cars were sold in July and August (July: +13.5%). Because: Since September 1, 2018, only cars that have been certified according to the WLTP emissions test can be sold in the EU. The test is more realistic, shows higher emissions and consumption values ​​and this leads to the CO2-dependent NoVA becoming higher and therefore cars becoming more expensive. According to importer spokesman Günther Kerle, an automobile will be on average 2.5 to 3 percentage points more expensive due to the increased NoVA. With a new car price of 20,000 euros, this means an increase of 400 euros. For large off-road vehicles, customers have to shell out up to 3,000 euros more.

EFFECTS ON CAR PURCHASE

As a current survey by the Puls market research company in Germany shows (1,005 end consumers were asked), the difficulties that automobile manufacturers have with the new testing procedure have an impact on car purchases for more than half of those surveyed (+56%). 13 percent of those surveyed said they were completely putting their planned vehicle purchase on hold. Those who still decided to buy almost every second time chose a used car instead of the new car they had actually planned. Conclusion: Automobile dealers have to act increasingly creatively when approaching customers due to the switch to the WLTP cycle and the associated delivery bottlenecks. Apparently far too few retailers practice this. Only 64 percent of car buyers affected by WLTP said they had received an alternative offer for a new or used car. According to Puls managing director Konrad Weßner, this is exactly where retailers could start: “In order to mitigate the toxic effect of WLTP and the threat of inner-city driving bans, retailers in particular are required to actively educate people about the issues and build trust.” According to the study, the switch to WLTP has the greatest impact on the work of VW and Audi dealers. Almost two thirds (62%) of respondents planning to purchase an Audi said WLTP would have an impact on their car purchase. At VW it was still 61 percent. According to the study, the Opel brand has the fewest problems.

“Car dealers in particular are required to actively educate people about the issues and build trust.” WOLFGANG BAUER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

BAD PROCEDURE

The fact is: the transition from NEDC to WLTP was anything but successful. The final regulations from the EU came extremely late, namely in June of last year. The newly standardized model series had to be tested in accordance with WLTP as early as September. The main problem was that a year later WLTP was introduced for all models on the market. This period was definitely too short, especially since automobile manufacturers with many model variants had to test far too many models in far too short a time. All of these failures have led to the problems we have now.