Sales of diesel cars in Germany fell 12.7% in July as the overall market grew by 1.5% according to data released by the KBA.

The KBA said the car market in Germant reached 283,080 units last month.

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For the domestic brands, the KBA said Mercedes posted the strongest growth +18.1% (30,046 units), followed by Smart (+18.0%; 2,982 units) and BMW (+ 7.3 %; 21,416 units). At 17.5% share (and 49,416 units sold), the Volkswagen brand led the German market last month, despite a 13.2% volume decline.

The month was characterised by further big falls for diesel cars. Gasoline engined cars accounted for 56% of new car sales (+ 11.2%). Diesel car sales were down by 12.7% on  last year for a share of just 40.5%. Vehicles with hybrid drive (7,383 units) increased by +103.7%, including plug-in hybrids (2,417 units) up by 137.9%. Electric cars (1,820) posted an increase of +131.8% in July.

Analysts say the German car market this year is on course to be close to 3.5m units.

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