German automakers see opportunity in U.S.

Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG and Head of Mercedes Benz, introduces the new MY2010 E-Class car during the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan January 10, 2009.

DETROIT (Reuters) - German automakers plan a push to win more market share in the United States by capitalizing on fuel-efficient diesels loaded with safety features, an industry official said on Sunday.

"That is why we, the German auto industry, have decided to use exactly this crisis to go on the offensive and win market share," Matthias Wissmann, president of the German auto industry association VDA, told reporters at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.

Companies like Daimler, BMW, Volkswagen and Porsche are hoping new models like the VW's Jetta TDI, which won "Green Car of the Year" in the Los Angeles Auto Show, boost awareness of a technology long since prevalent in Europe.

The VDA said German carmakers have increased their share of the U.S. light vehicle market to 6.7 percent from 5.1 percent in the past four years.

"In the mid-term, the 10 percent mark is even conceivable," Wissmann said.

Excluding SUVs, pickups and minivans, German automakers already have a 10.7 percent share of the U.S. market.

While diesel demand had failed to live up to expectations in the U.S. so far due to higher prices of the fuel compared to gasoline, Wissman said German automakers were convinced that there was a future for diesel in the United States.

Automotive industry analysts at J.D. Power have forecast that diesel market share in the U.S. will quadruple to 9 percent by 2015, he noted.

Audi plans to roll out two clean diesel models in the United States this year, the Q7 TDI and later in 2009 the A3 TDI, for example.

According to the VDA, the United States is the largest export market in terms of value for German automakers, which sold 890,000 vehicles there last year led by luxury brands like BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and Porsche.

Despite a weak U.S. dollar, the German auto industry continues to rack up sizeable trade surpluses that amounted to 15 billion euros last year alone, Wissman said.

(Reporting by Christiaan Hetzner, editing by Peter Bohan, Bernard Orr)