Will China fuel a recovery in German automobile shares?

While the emissions scandal has been responsible for the recent plunge in the share price of Volkswagen Group, the bigger picture is that the share prices of German car manufacturers have been sliding since the spring amid growing concerns about demand for the companies’ products in troubled China. Our upbeat forecast for the German DAX – our end-2016 projection of 13,000 is more than 35% higher than its level today – is partly based on a view that China’s economy will fare better than most seem to expect.