In The Economist today, read about “The Big Chill“. Excerpts:
Sales figures published the week before the show confirmed what everyone already knew: the second half of 2008 saw the most savage contraction of demand since the modern industry was formed after the second world war….
Prestigious brands have been clobbered as much as volume manufacturers. BMW’s American sales fell by 40% in the year to December and those of Mercedes by 32%. Rolls-Royce, whose customers might be thought impervious to hard times, sold 29 cars in December 2007, but precisely none last month.