Motor Show Optimism Spreads to Market

The guarded optimism that surrounded the Frankfurt Motor Show last month is proving to be well founded if the number of new car registrations in Germany for September is anything to go by. The number of new car registrations rose by four percent from the same month in 2002 to 277,000 units, the auto industry federation VDA said on Thursday. "The market benefited from the positive influence of the show," VDA president Bernd Gottschalk said in a statement. "With a whole series of new models, the German automobile industry created the conditions needed to fill its sails after an excessive drift on the domestic market," he added. Domestic orders for new cars jumped 16 percent in September while foreign orders rose two percent. "It's the immediate effect of the motor show, but there's no reason to be euphoric," Gottshalk said.