Sales of new cars in Germany rose by 3% in April from the equivalent figure last year. This was a sharp slowdown from the March rate of 11%, the VDA sector federation said on May 3.
A total of 266,380 vehicles were delivered in the biggest European auto market, VDA data showed, while figures since the beginning of the year showed a gain of 11% to nearly 1.03 million vehicles.
The German market "is in a normalization process," VDA president Matthias Wissmann noted.
Exports gained 2% to 358,000 vehicles in April on an annualized basis, while overall production was also two 2% higher at 472,000 units.
Manufacturers of German luxury autos forecast a bumper year owing to strong demand in emerging markets, led by China which is now the world's biggest auto market.
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011
