German auto sales surge: Trade federation

FRANKFURT: Sales of new cars in Germany surged 24 percent in October on a 12-month basis, as the market continued to benefit from a cash-for-clunkers bonus that expired in August, the trade federation VDA said on Tuesday.

It said 321,000 new cars were registered last month, 24 percent more than in October 2008 and beating September's annual gain of 21 percent.

In the first 10 months of the year sales were up 26 percent from a year earlier at 3.3 million vehicles.

While the bonus for trading in old cars for new expired in late August, many new vehicles ordered in the summer were delivered only in October.

At the end of October orders outstanding came to 394,300 vehicles, up 16 percent from the figure at the same time last year, according to the federation.

Under the bonus scheme, for which the government allocated a total of 5.0 billion euros (7.3 billion dollars), consumers were entitled to 2,500 euros toward the purchase of a new car if they traded in a vehicle at least nine years old.