BERLIN: New car registrations in Germany, a key measure of demand in one of the most important sectors of Europe’s top economy, fell in May, but solely due to the number of public holidays last month, data showed Tuesday.
A total of 256,400 new cars were registered last month, a decrease of seven percent compared with the figure for the same month last year, VDA said in a statement.
But the contraction was entirely attributable to the number of public holidays in May and did not signal a real downturn in demand, VDA said.
“There were two fewer working days than in the same month a year go. Adjusted for this one-off effect, the market grew by four percent,” said VDA president Matthias Wissmann.
In the five months to May, total new registrations rose by four percent to 1.305 million vehicles, he added.
“The statistical special effect in May does not alter our current prognosis for the German market. Since the beginning of the year, the trend has been better than expected,” Wissmann said.
A total 451,400 cars rolled off German production lines last month, a drop of six percent year-on-year, VDA said.
The number of new cars exported also declined by six percent to 347,900 units.
