German Auto Industry Confidence Weakens In February - Ifo

Optimism among Germany's automakers eased in February and they assessed the current economic situation as significantly worse as buyers were increasingly cautions amid fears of a recession, survey data from the ifo institute showed Friday.

The confidence indicator for the automobile manufacturing industry more than halved in February, to 6 points from 12.5 points in January. Business expectations among automakers also eroded in February and the corresponding indicator of the survey sunk to 2.8 points from 21.4 points. "While manufacturers are still currently working through existing orders, demand from potential buyers is faltering," Oliver Falck, director of the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies, said.

The uncertain development of electricity prices as well as rumors of rationing power for recharging car batteries likely hurt buyer interest, Falck added.

German automakers expect exports to grow, though fewer automakers plan to expand production in the coming months.

That said, automakers do not expect any big impetus from international markets and their export expectations index dropped to minus 5.8 points in February.

Meanwhile, the auto industry suppliers assessed their current situation as better than in the previous month and they rated their order backlog as slightly better than in the previous month.

The number of vehicle companies reporting material shortages dropped to 55.1 percent from 53.0 percent. However, suppliers' were more pessimistic regarding the future and the expectations indicator of the ifo survey fell to minus 9.7 points from minus 3.9 points.