New car registrations in Germany, a key measure of demand in one of the most important sectors of Europe's top economy, edged higher in October, data showed Tuesday, appearing to shrug off fears the Volkswagen pollution-cheating scandal could weigh on sales in the sector.
A total of 278,400 new cars were registered last month, an increase of one percent compared with the figure for the same month last year, according to data compiled by the automakers' federation VDA. That was the highest sales figure for October in 10 years, VDA said.
Taking the ten months to October, new car registrations advanced by five percent to 2.686 million vehicles, the statement continued. The number of new registrations of diesel-powered cars increased by six percent in the period from January to October, VDA added, calculating that diesel cars accounted for 48 percent, 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 world-wide with sophisticated software that can skew emission test results.