Market overview motor caravans

In the German sales market, one record result was followed by another. After the 2011 record result of 21,791 newly registered motor caravans, figures increased by another 10.4 percent to reach 24,062 newly registered motor caravans in 2012. The van segment played a key role in these doubledigit registration increases; according to CIVD projections, this segment makes up more than 30 percent of registrations. Due to the early Easter in 2012, which is considered the start date for the season among caravanning enthusiasts, newly registered motor caravans rose by 33.8 percent during the first quarter of 2012. With 16,544 newly registered motor caravans, the first half of 2012 registered a growth of 12.7 percent compared with the first half of 2011 (14,680 units). Newly registered motor caravans increased by 5.7 percent during the second half of 2012, at 7,518 units. Taking into account motor caravans registered as passenger cars, this results in a total volume of 27,500 newly registered vehicles in 2012. Unfortunately, positive domestic demand was accompanied by weakening foreign sales, which prompted German manufacturers to implement even more flexible production planning. The first half of 2012 ended with a motor caravan production of 23,700 units and a gain of 11.9 percent compared to the result of the previous year (21,200 units). Despie the good sales situation in Germany, overall German manufacturers increased production by only 2,800, in order to address the moderate sales situation in Europe.

The Federal Motor Transport Authority in Flensburg has indicated units in use on 1 January 2012 at 340,788 motor caravans, which corresponds to a growth of 2.6 percent as compared to the previous year’s closing date (332,169 units). North Rhine-Westphalia is again the state with Germany’s largest number of motor caravans in use, at 71,562 registered vehicles. In second place is Bavaria with 66,584 and third place goes to Baden-Württemberg with 52,817 registered motor caravans. The CIVD estimates that the overall number of motor caravans in use is 450,000. For the year 2011, the foreign trade statistics of the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden show exports of 18,402 motor caravans. In comparison with the previous year (15,283 vehicles), this represents an increase of 20.4 percent. The most important export country for the German production sector in 2011 was France, at 4,769 motor caravans, followed by Switzerland (2,147 units) and Sweden (1,764 units). Apart from Finland (– 3.75 percent), all of the estern European sales markets of German manufacturers posted improved export figures. The export share for 2011 was
approximately 48 percent. It is expected that motor caravan sales will grow by single-digit figures in 2013.