Frankfurt- New car registrations in Germany went into overturn for the third month in a row in August, dipping 1 per cent actually from the previous month to 245,000 units, the German Automobile Industry Federation (VDA) said Tuesday. In July and June the decline was 2 per cent and 5 per cent correspondingly, when compared to the month before, the VDA said, citing high petrol prices, unemployment and impending tax increases for the downturn.

Car exports in August rose 5 per cent to 238,500 units, while new orders from overseas ascended 29 per cent from the year-ago level, mainly as a result of increased demand from Russia, China, South Africa and the new EU member states, the VDA said.

Despite the slump in the summer months, the VDA said it predictable new registrations for the year to get to a total of 3.4 million, just about more than the 3.34 million recorded in 2005.