New car registrations in Germany, a key measure of demand in one of the most important sectors of Europe's top economy, rose in September, data showed Friday, amid fears the Volkswagen pollution-cheating scandal could weigh on sales in the sector.
A total of 272,500 new cars were registered last month, an increase of 5% compared with the figure for the same month last year, according to data compiled by the automakers' federation VDA, AFP reported.
The number of new registrations of diesel-powered cars increased by 8% in September, VDA added, calculating that diesel cars accounted for 47%, or nearly half, of the entire new car market in Germany.
German auto giant Volkswagen is currently engulfed in a global scandal after admitting it had fitted 11 million diesel vehicles worldwide with sophisticated software that can skew emission test results.
Taking the first nine months of this year as a whole, accumulated car sales were up by 6% to 2.408 million vehicles, the data showed.
VDA chief Matthias Wissmann said that "the German automobile market remains on a good path."
The sector was seeing double-digit growth in new orders and there was also rising export demand, Wissmann said.
