Austria: Mitterlehner Still Optimistic For Automotive Industry

Austria: Mitterlehner Still Optimistic For Automotive Industry / Picture: © Vindobona.org

Quite on the contrary, Mitterlehner estimates one of the best results for 2013 and regards Austria in a favourable economic position compared with the rest of Europe. Mitterlehner sees future potential in low-consumption motors and electric mobility. Yet, he does not regard a new scrapping premium as imperative at the moment. In 2009, the premium yielded € 95m for 30,000 vehicles.

According to a spokesman of car importers and against the general downward trends in Europe (about -8.2 % in 2012 compared to the previous year), Austria had its second best year in the history of vehicle trade with a total of 336,000 new registrations of vehicles in 2012 (which is a decreases of 5.7 % compared to 2011). For 2013, a total of 320,000 to 325,000 registrations is expected.

Economy minister Mitterlehner stressed the importance of the automotive industry for Austria since one out of nine jobs is connected to the vehicle trade. He explained that a market-oriented business strategy is planned with the focus on electric mobility and fuel efficient motors. However, the dynamic of sales in electronic vehicles is not yet as strong as he had hoped. He stated that until the year 2020, 200,000 such vehicles are supposed to be sold, which apparently is a higher target than in Germany. The research quota of the automotive supplier industry is currently at 10 %.