Carmageddon? What carmageddon?
Germany’s auto industry has a huge problem: Way too many customers. “We have that fattest order books of all times,” said Esther Bahne of Audi to Germany’s Spiegel magazine. Result: Customers have to wait months for their cars. Sometimes longer than ever before, says Der Spiegel.
- The German tabloid Bild am Sonntag reports that the buyer of a lowly Audi A3 needs to wait five months until it will finally show up at the dealer.
- Golf plus: Sometimes 5 months wait.
- Mercedes: Two to four months wait.
- Even buyers of an Opel Zafira need a lot of patience: Three months on the average.
Of course it’s not the fault of the automakers. Demand in China, and, surprise, surprise, in the U.S. is to blame. And if that isn’t enough, then fingers point at the suppliers: A year ago, they were faced with imminent bankruptcy, now they are working at full capacity. “There are shortages from raw materials all the way to electronic components,” said Dr. Jürgen Geissinger, VP of the industry organization Verband der Autoindustrie (VDA).
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