BERLIN (AP) -- German car exports saw a healthy year-on-year rise in January as demand recovered in foreign markets, but new registrations at home dropped again, an industry group said Tuesday.
The VDA group said that 264,500 cars were exported last month, 18 percent more than a year earlier. There was an even steeper rise in orders from abroad, which were up 38 percent, it added.
The increase in exports followed a 23 percent rise in December.
The picture was gloomier in Germany itself, where sales have been slipping after a government car-scrapping bonus plan expired in September. It gave sales of new cars a boost for much of last year.
Total new car registrations in Germany were down 4 percent on the year in January at 181,500 vehicles. Domestic orders were down a steeper 16 percent.
Germany is home to car makers such as Daimler AG, Porsche SE, Volkswagen AG and BMW AG.
VDA said that, thanks to the upturn in exports, car production in Germany was up 17 percent on the year last month, reaching 362,700 vehicles.
Increasing exports could help ensure that total production this year at least matches last year's level, VDA president Matthias Wissmann said.
