Carmakers push for aid, German sales rise

Carmakers kept up their calls for more financial help as the annual Geneva Motor Show opened against the backdrop of the continuing financial crisis.

A jump in German car sales last month helped keep the gloom at bay, and the head of the VDA industry association said car markets might start to recover later this year.

If other countries' economic stimulus packages gained traction, too, "it could come to the first gradual recovery of global sales in the second half of the year", VDA chief Matthias Wissmann said at the show.

German state incentives to scrap old vehicles and switch to new models with lower emissions helped new car sales in Europe's biggest market leap by 21 per cent to 278,000 vehicles in February compared with a year ago, the first rise in German new car sales in half a year.

Domestic orders jumped 63 per cent last month.

In Italy, Fiat SpA expects vehicle sales this month to be in line with last year or slightly better, boosted by government incentives, said Fiat Auto unit chief executive officer Lorenzo Sistino. Other companies at the show kept the emphasis on tackling the crisis and coping with the overall downturn.

GM is still pursuing aid for its European businesses of Opel in Germany and Vauxhall in the UK.

Public aid for specific sectors was not a good idea because other sectors would queue up for similar aid from a limited pool of public funds, said OECD chief economist Klaus Schmidt-Hebbel.

Meanwhile, Renault is aiming to go beyond its target set last month of cutting stocks of unsold cars by between €800 million to €1 billion this year, chief operating officer Patrick Pelata said.

Nissan said it would build its new compact NV200 van at its Barcelona plant for the European market, with sales of the light commercial vehicle (LCV) to start in the second half of this year.

As CO2 legislation tightens and companies are granted massive sums to speed up research into ways of cutting vehicle emissions, the spotlight at the Geneva show this year has been put on green technologies and the industry's longer-term prospects.