[satchmodog9]

I wonder if you remove all the cars from the trade imbalance, what it would be. How many cars do you think Germany imports? Just a question.

[CzarNicky]

just an anecdotal observation but I work as an importer and the sheer volume of goods imported from Germany and the other EU states dwarfs that of China. It's not just cars that we import from them it is machine parts and capital goods, what do we get from China? skateboard parts.

[OESY]

http://www.mpi-fg-koeln.mpg.de/~lk/netvis/globale/autoe2.html.html

This excerpt will also answer some quesions other posters have had:

Central Europe has emerged as an export platform for German automobile producers.

About one third of car production by German companies in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic was destined for the German market in recent years.

German car exports to the four Central European countries increased by much less than German imports. As a result, Germany reported an import surplus of about 170.000 units per annum in 2000-2003.

-- Peter Nunnenkamp, Kiel Institute of World Economics, (Bochum/Wien June 2005)

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:9QC8FImsi9QJ:www.euroframe.org/fileadmin/user_upload/euroframe/docs/2005/presentations/nunnenkamp.ppt+car+imports+vs.+exports+germany&hl=en