The auto trade is becoming a tale of two industries: carmakers that benefit from cash-for-clunkers schemes, and those that don't. Contrast BMW, whose BMW-brand deliveries fell 9 per cent in the third quarter, with the continuing buoyant total car sales figures in Germany and France. The problem for BMW and luxury rivals is these scrappage schemes are mainly encouraging consumers to buy small, cheap cars. So French car sales jumped 20 per cent year-on-year in October – the sixth month of that kind of increase – as consumers took advantage of France's scheme before its December expiry. But the big gainers were Peugeot, Renault and Ford, which on Monday announced a surprise quarterly profit. In Germany, October new car registrations were up 24 per cent, though its scrappage scheme ran out in September, as cars ordered under the scheme are still being delivered.
汽車業正在上演雙城記:一邊是從「舊車換現金」計劃中受益的汽車製造商,另一邊則是那些未能受益的製造商。BMW(BMW)第三季度同名品牌銷量下降9%,與德國、法國持續上揚的汽車銷售總量形成鮮明對比。BMW及其他高階品牌面臨的問題是,這些「舊車換現金」計劃主要鼓勵消費者購買小排量的低價汽車。因此法國10月份汽車銷量同比躍升20%,連續第6個月出現這種幅度的成長,因爲消費者希望在12月計劃終止之前加以充分利用。而最大的贏家是標緻(Peugeot)、雷諾(Renault)和福特(Ford),3家公司週一均發佈了令人驚訝的季度利潤。在德國,儘管舊車換現金計劃已於9月份結束,但10月份新車登記量仍然成長了24%,因爲符合計劃的新車訂單仍在發貨中。