Volkswagen group deliveries drop fourteen percent on China weakness

What BBN said about it

1. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorVolkswagen says group deliveries fell fourteen percent from a year ago, with China again the weak spot for VW, Audi and Porsche.

2. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorJoining us from her parked hatchback in Wolfsburg is Ottoline Brandvold, professor of automotive forecasting, and author of The Car I Told You About.

3. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorProfessor, did you see this coming?

4. OB

   Ottoline BrandvoldChip, it was in the glovebox of my mind since March, right next to my laminated parking permit, which I will now hold up.

5. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorSo you predicted fourteen percent?

6. OB

   Ottoline BrandvoldI predicted a fall, and also, in the glovebox of my mind, a rise. Both are in the book, on different pages.

7. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorBoth. So whichever way the number went, you were right.

8. OB

   Ottoline BrandvoldPrecisely. The deliveries fell, so page forty is vindicated. Had they risen, page forty-one, which I keep in the glovebox of my mind, laminated.

9. 

   Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorPage forty-one is laminated?

10. OB

    Ottoline BrandvoldEvery page is laminated. It is a book for people who drive in the rain.

11. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorI respect that, I do. Most of my best thinking happens in a drive-through line.

12. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorBut what should a viewer take from a fourteen percent drop?

13. OB

    Ottoline BrandvoldThat a car company can sell fewer cars. In the glovebox of my mind, I forecast that exact sentence in two thousand eleven.

14. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorTwo thousand eleven, okay. And did you forecast how your own book would sell?

15. OB

    Ottoline BrandvoldThat one I left blank. I only have the permit.

16. 

    Chip Darnell · U.S. News AnchorThen we're all holding the same thing, Professor, a laminated piece of paper and a hope about China.