Germany’s carmakers produced 5.6 million passenger cars in total in 2017, according to automotive federation VDA. While the production number is -2% down on 2016, the share of exports has reached a new high, the federation says.

“Just how much Germany’s success as an automotive location depends on the international market is illustrated by a simple statistic: in 2017, 77.4% of all passenger cars built in Germany were exported. This export quota is a new record,” VDA president Matthias Wissmann said.

The total export figure dropped however, in line with the fall in production, by -1% to 4.4m units. This appears somewhat out of sync with the still-growing industry figures and indices last year. “The decline in domestic production is reflected in the decline of the total export figure, given that exports make up a large share,” a spokesman explains to Kallanish.

An increase in incoming domestic orders at German plants by nearly 11% in December gives a basis for a positive outlook for this year. “Incoming orders are continuing their dynamic trend, which gives us confidence as we begin 2018,” Wissmann said.

After eleven years of heading the federation, Wissmann will step down from his post as president at the end of February. He will be succeeded by Bernhard Matthes, formerly chairman of the executive board at Ford-Werke, and a member of the VDA board since 2002.