German car sales rise

Frankfurt, May 3

New car registrations in Germany, a key indicator of demand in Europe’s top economy, rose strongly in April, official data showed on Tuesday.

A total of 315,921 new cars were registered last month, up 8.4 per cent from the figure for the same month in 2015, according to data compiled by the federal transport authority KBA. The April data ‘should be seen against the backdrop of the weaker March numbers’, noted Matthias Wissmann, president of the auto industry association, VDA.

“If you take the two months together, the picture is more balanced. Sales increased by four per cent,” Wissmann said. Taking the four months to April as a whole, new registrations were up 5.6 per cent at 1.107 million cars over the same period a year earlier, KBA calculated.