New car sales down in Poland

Photo: EPA/Mario Ruiz

Wojciech Drzewiecki, director of the Samar Institute told the Polish Press agency (PAP) that the September outcome “is one of the lowest since 2006”.

He also claims that the figures have been “pumped up” and are worse than they appear, highlighting that of the 18,600 cars registered, only about 7300 have been purchased by private users.

A large portion have been bought by car salon owners and individual companies.

Drzewiecki suggests the figures could signal a more general economic malaise as Poland struggles to avoid the recession that has gripped other EU members.

“The outlook for the coming months indicates further declines,” he said.

“In August, the registered unemployment rate rose to 12.4 percent from 12.3 in July. It was the first such case since 2000 when the unemployment rate was higher in August than in July.”

Nevertheless, although Poles are still buying more used cars than new ones, a recent report by the Economy Ministry indicates that there has been a shift this year towards the purchase of new vehicles.

The report, which covered from January to the end of July 2012, showed that while imports of used cars to Poland have declined, sales of new car sales had gone up.

Poles bought some 370 thousand second hand vehicles from abroad in the first seven months of the year, simultaneously buying half that number of new automobiles. (nh)