German Car Makers "Cooking The Books" To Inflate Sales?

Germany's car market is in recession, but few outside the industry would know it, thanks to a controversial sales practice that inflates official statistics and paints a flattering picture of demand.

Three in every 10 new vehicles in Germany, including luxury BMWs, are sold not to customers, but to carmakers and their dealers -- a type of automotive industry pump priming known as "self-registration."

At nearly half a million such registrations in the six months through June, the total is greater than the entire new car market in Spain.

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chewy - 7/31/2012 12:33:00 PM

+1 Boost

Don't the cars still end up being sold eventually?

mpls - 7/31/2012 3:42:40 PM

+3 Boost

Yeah, the rumour you just thought up on the fly..