New car registrations in Germany have shot up in the first five months of 2009, thanks largely to state incentives to scrap old cars to buy new ones. The surge in Germany has driven up sales across Western Europe.
The Federal Statistical Office said on Monday that new registrations rose by 22.8 percent in the January-May period.
The Wiesbaden-based office said that this surge was a result of the government’s car-scrapping program, which pays consumers $3,520 for trading in a car trading in a car that is at least nine years old for a more efficient one. Germany imported nearly 12 percent more cars during the period than in the first five months of last year.