- Before the reunification of Germany in October 1990, the eastern region grouped under the name GDR (German Democratic Republic) had two auto plants: one located in Zwickau (a former Auto Union factory before 1945) that made the Trabant (100,000 units per year from 1958 to 1990) and the other located in Eisenach (a former BMW factory before 1945) that made the Wartburg (50 000 copies per year from 1966 to 1990).

- In 1990 the Zwickau plant was taken over by Volkswagen (to manufacture the Golf) and the Eisenach plant was taken over by Opel (to manufacture the Astra and Corsa),the former owners (Auto Union and BMW ) did not wish to take over these sites.

- BMW returned however in 2004 to this region to build a plant in Leipzig.

- Volkswagen built a factory in Dresden in 2001 and Porsche built one in Leipzig in 2002.

- Today, the eastern part of Germany, which enjoys lower costs than in the western part, has five factories whose overall production capacity reached 700,000 vehicles per year (against 200 000 in 1990).

- Last year, these five plants produced 593,000 vehicles (against 603,000 in 2011).

 Data source: File #101 - Worldwide production detailed by models

- Luxury brands (the three Italian ones Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, and the three British ones Aston Martin, Rolls-Royce, Bentley) aren't affected by the crisis. If they saw their sales fall by half in 1993 compared to 1990 (from 10,000 to 5000 annual sales), they have a much more diversified offer since that date (Ferrari now offers five different models, as Bentley and Aston Martin) and benefited from a global growth (especially China) between 2004 and 2008.

- Thus, luxury brands have increased from 12,000 to 35,000 annually during this period, thus multiplying their sales by three in four years.

- Bentley and Aston Martin particularly benefited from these two phenomena (global diversification and growth), but Ferrari and Maserati have also benefit significantly from these phenomena. Following the financial crisis of 2008, sales of these brands dropped to 20,000 units per year, but as of 2010 they were able to bounce back to 32 000 units in 2012.

- Luxury brands looks to the future with confidence. The objectives of Maserati are reaching 50,000 annual sales within three years, with the launch of several new models, including an SUV. Although the five other brands do not have such ambitious goals, they assume a significant increase in sales over the next ten years.

 Data source: File #55 - Registrations in the World by makes 

 Data source: File #101 - Worldwide production detailed by models

 Data source: File #55 - Registrations in the World by makes