Press release

March 2, 2008

Disguised sales performance

Lots of short registrations lure private customers

Würzburg, March 3, 2008

This is surprising: pure one-day registrations fell in 2007. Some manufacturers proudly point to this decline. However, this is only half the truth. Manufacturers used test cars and similar tricks to disguise the short registrations in 2007 - so they do not appear in the statistics as short registrations, but as demonstration car registrations by dealers. Almost every third newly registered car last year was a demonstration car or a one-day registration. The alleged lack of private customers mainly made use of these "young used cars". Sales of used cars less than one year old rose by around 17 percent last year. In the same period, new private registrations fell by exactly the same percentage, reports the weekly journal "kfz-betrieb" in its current issue 9.

Experts are critical of the use of the short-term registration instrument. The Vice President of the German Association of the Motor Trade (ZDK), Ulrich Fromme, believes that this practice destroys automotive values and urges cautious use. He says: "Realistically, one has to regard the one-day registration as an instrument of market purchase, even if not a particularly creative one."

Prof. Ferdinand Dudenhöffer (Gelsenkirchen University of Applied Sciences) refers to the residual value problem in the trade. He explains: "This is definitely shaking up the price structure and residual values of vehicles. It's a milquetoast calculation to believe that one-day registrations don't affect residual values. It's like Pavlov's dogs: The customer is conditioned to discount."

"kfz-betrieb" is a trade magazine published by Vogel Auto Medien, Würzburg. The most widely read trade magazine in the automotive industry has been informing the automotive trade and service sector for 97 years. "kfz-betrieb" is the official organ of the German automotive trade (ZDK), the professional lobby for over 40,000 car dealerships and workshops. Daily news from the entire automotive industry can be found at www.kfz-betrieb.de and in the daily newsletter.

If you have any questions, please contact:
Joachim von Maltzan
Management & Business
Editorial department "kfz-betrieb"-Wochenjournal & Online
Vogel Auto Medien
97064 Würzburg
Phone +49 931 418-27 51
Fax +49 931 418-20 60
E-Mail:joachim_vonmaltzan@vogel-automedien.de

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Corporate Communications
Vogel Communications Group GmbH & Co. KG

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