Poland’s car market goes under

Despite aggressive promotion, the demand for new cars plummeted by over 10% m/m in January, an initial report by Samar Automotive Marker Research Institute is quoted by ‘Puls Biznesu’.
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‘December saw massive sales and an increased number of purchases in fear of prices rising due to the deteriorating zloty. The number of cars bought in January was significantly lower’ Wojciech Drzewiecki, head of Samar Institute, is quoted as saying. The drop in sales is expected to deepen because of a price hike. ‘The cars manufactured in 2009 are going to be more expensive by at least 10% because of the unfavourable rate of the zloty to the euro which will be followed by a lower number of purchases and a further slowdown on the market’ Adam Kołodziejczyk, president of Ford Poland, says.

The Volkswagen manufacturing plant in Poznan, central Poland, has already been faced with the diminishing demand for new cars. The factory discontinued production for 3 days due to an insufficient number of orders. Piotr Danielewicz, the spokesman for Volkswagen Poznań, informed that the company had more downtime planned. ‘Cars are produced on specific orders. Due to a drop in demand the production had to be withheld. According to an agreement with the trade unions, Volkswagen is keeping the work places and is not lowering the workers wages. The production stoppage is planned for February 2-4 and 23-27’ he said. Workers are to take days off then, wnp.pl reports.
Source:polishmarket.com.pl