FRANKFURT, Hesse (AFP) – New car registrations in Germany, a key measure of demand in one of the most crucial sectors of Europe’s top economy, fell in August, data showed on Tuesday.

A total 214,100 new cars were registered last month, a drop of 5.0 percent compared to sales in the same month in 2012, according to data compiled by the automotive industry federation VDA.

However, the drop was largely due to a calendar effect since there was one fewer working day in August this year than in the same month a year ago, VDA explained.

And in seasonally-adjusted terms, the number matched the year-earlier level.

VDA president Matthias Wissmann said, “The stabilisation in the domestic car market already seen in July continued in August.

“It is pleasing that domestic orders rose again, this time by 2.0 percent,” Wissmann said.

At the same time, export orders rose by 3.0 percent to 293,900 cars, the VDA data showed.

Taking the eight months to August as a whole, new car registrations fell by 7.0 percent to 1.97 million units.

Exports were down 2.0 percent at 2.738 million vehicles in the eight-month period.

In terms of output, some 397,150 cars rolled off German production lines in August alone, an increase of 9.0 percent year-on-year.

And in the eight months to August, production slipped by 2.0 percent to 3.581 million vehicles.