Motor vehicle production in Poland down by a third in December

Photo: wikipedia

The statistics, which were released by the Samar Automotive Research Institute, reveal that just over 38,000 cars and commercial vehicles came off the production line last month.

Simultaneously, Poles purchased some 23 percent less cars in December 2012 than they they did in that month in 2011.

Car sales have been declining since September 2012, appearing to corroborate anxieties concerning an economic slowdown.

Meanwhile, the only branch of the car market which is bucking the trend is the luxury sector.

Sales of luxury cars were up by 10 percent in 2012, while the overall car market in Poland witnessed a drop in sales.

According to Samar, some 22,707 luxury cars were registered in 2012, while the sales of cars outside the exclusive bracket are down 2.5 percent since 2011, with 247,900 vehicles sold.

“The luxury car sector is more resistant to economic fluctuations,” noted Jakub Farys, chairman of the Polish Automotive Industry Association (PZPM), in an interview with the Gazeta Wyborcza daily.

“The majority of these cars are bought by companies," he stressed.

Meanwhile, statistics provided by the Hay Group have indicated that the earnings of top rung managers in Polish firms are up by 25 percent, year-on-year.

“There is an increasing stratification of income in society,” Wojciech Drzewiecki, head of Samar, told the daily.
(nh)