Lidl sells car online in Germany

Discount retailer Lidl has started selling cars online in Germany in partnership with car distributor ATG-Automobile.

Lidl is selling an Opel Corsa for €10,295 and a Volkswagen Cross Polo for €13,160, both at a discount of 26% to 27% off the suggested retail price.

But the research company Verdict has labeled the initiative as shrewd and opportunistic. It claims Lidl is exploiting Germany’s fiscal stimulus programme which contains an initiative to boost car sales by offering a €2,500 premium towards buying a new car and scrapping vehicles more than nine years old.

“Once the scrapping premium expires, we expect new car sales and registrations to rapidly fall back, as many sales will simply have been pulled forward and we would expect Lidl to withdraw its offer to concentrate on its core business of grocery retailing,” said Verdict.

The initiative to boost car sales in Germany was launched as part of the grand coalition government’s fiscal stimulus programme in January this year.

In the first four weeks of the scheme 85,000 applications for the premium were filed in Germany, accounting for about half of the usual pre-crisis level of new car registrations in January.

According to Verdict, this has resulted in manufacturers in Germany reversing short timing, raising production and rising sales against a climate of double digit global sales declines in the industry.

February sales data continued the trend with a 21% rise in monthly registrations to 277,700, the highest level in the past decade