2019 was the first year in which German carmakers produced considerably more passenger cars in China than at home (in 2018, production figures in China exceeded output in Germany only by a small margin). While the aggregate car output by German companies in China fell by 0.9% during the past year, to 5.08 million vehicles, production in Germany slid for the second year in a row, by about 9% to only 4.67 million passenger cars. Thus, domestic production dropped below 5 million for the first time since the recession year 2009 and was lower than in any other year since 1996. German auto industry: Output in China exceeds domestic production