The German auto industry is predicting that domestic demand for cars in 2010 will fall by one million vehicles from last year, which is bad news for Poland's automakers. Polish manufacturers export 90% of their output, with a third of that going to Germany.

Volkswagen's Poznan factory produces the Caddy and Transporter models, and has already decided to cut 2010 production from 149,000 units to 145,000. The factory also halted production for the first week of January because of the drop in orders.

For the moment, most automakers are not yet experiencing a drop in demand. Opel's factory in Gliwice is keeping its production rate steady since the beginning of the year. But that factory has just started producing the new Astra model, which had already secured 70,000 orders by mid-month.

"It's impossible to come up with a prognosis four weeks into the year," said Przemyslaw Byszewski of General Motors Poland.

"Only the first quarter will show how the rest of the year will look.”

Source: Rzeczpospolita