Car makers embellish sales figures to boost reputations

There are vast discrepancies between the figures reported by car makers and official new-car registrations, with the 21 months to October showing a gap of 28,800 cars between those sold according to manufacturer statements, and those registered. Many Poles follow car sales rankings with interest, with higher rankings affecting their buying decisions. Some of the tricks being used include reporting used cars as new, or adding re-exports or sales to dealerships to overall sales figures. The most spectacular case is BMW, with a discrepancy of 2,525 cars or 40% of its total, while data from other leading car brands, such as Audi, Volkswagen, Skoda and Seat also show stark differences. On the other hand, there are no discrepancies in the sales figures reported by Japanese car makers, Ford or Opel. Most car makers deny any manipulation of sales figures and defend their reporting practices, however, one thing is beyond dispute: no law is being broken. According to industry observers though, the lack of common definitions and unified reporting practices leaves room for figure-doctoring, making the market less transparent to customers. "Many foreign experts are perplexed at these discrepancies. In these circumstances, it is difficult to asses the relative performance of different car brands on the Polish market," says Paweł Kacprzyk, president of PZPM, the automotive industry association, and CEO of Volvo Auto Polska. (Puls Biznesu, p. 1, 4-5) R.M.