I just came back (August) from a month in Germany and can say that the
gov't is going to have to look long and hard to find many Vanagons to
crush. You don't see too many old cars on the road anyway since the
Germans have very strict auto inspections, which include inspection for
structural rust, and since they salt their roads, cars just don't last
that long. The vast majority of vanagons I saw were commercial
delivery and service models as well a post office vehicles, and they
seemed almost universally ready for crushing with or without this
edict. They looked in bad shape. Or they may find their way
to eastern Europe or Turkey where the market for used western European
cars is good.
Charles
'85 Westy
At 04:05 PM 9/27/01 -0400, Derek Drew wrote:
September
27, 2001
Volkswagen Asks German Govt. Aid
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- The head of Volkswagen
(news/quote).
Europe's biggest carmaker, called Thursday for government help to
stimulate new car sales in the wake of terrorist attacks on the United
States, although the company said it's too early to assess the full
impact on business.
Chairman Ferdinand Piech said in a statement he would expect ``to see
clear political support'' from the government in helping auto
manufacturers make it through what is likely to be a tough time.
Volkswagen braced for a potential drop in the market this week, idling
plants in the German cities of Wolfsburg and Emden as a preventive
measure to avoid possible inventory buildups. These plants make some of
VW's most important models, including the Golf, Polo and Passat.
Auto analysts say new car sales and showroom traffic in Europe have
slowed in the wake of the attacks, as they did in the United States.
Before the Sept. 11 attacks, Europeans were expected to buy 14.3 million
cars this year, down from 14.8 million last year; now, analysts say sales
could go as low as 14 million.
Piech proposed a program where the government would pay people to scrap
their old cars. He said such a plan would not only increase demand for
new vehicles, but help the environment as well.
The government could recoup some money in taxes on the new car purchases,
he said, but provided no further details.
German luxury automaker BMW said Thursday the attacks were not
anticipated to affect its business. BMW gets roughly half its profit from
selling its luxury cars in the United States and Great Britain.
``We don't anticipate any drastic economic consequences for the BMW
group, based on available data,'' said Michael Rebstock, a company
spokesman.
===========================
The proposal above was met by immediate acceptance from the
German government, and as a result all 16" syncros were immedaitely
rounded up and destroyed. All T3 Westfalias are scheduled to be destroyed
next week, and all modified T3 VW vans with other than stock motors the
week thereafter. However, an exemption was granted for any vehicle
purchased by FLO and sent to America for resale. :-) --
Derek
_______________________________________________
Derek
Drew
CEO & Co-Founder
http://www.ConsumerSearch.com/
New York, NY
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for product reviews on the Internet
Jan. 2001, PC World Magazine
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