German new car sales rise sharply

New car registrations in Germany, a key measure of demand in one of the most important sectors of Europe's top economy, rose strongly in June, data showed on Thursday.

A total of 313,600 new cars were registered last month, a jump of 13 percent compared with the figure for the same month last year, the VDA automobile industry federation said in a statement.

That pushed the number for the first half of the year up by five percent to 1.619 million vehicles, VDA calculated.

"The German auto market remains on track. For the whole of 2015, we're projecting a 2.0-percent increase in new registrations to 3.1 million," Wissmann said.

A total 511,100 cars rolled off German production lines last month, an increase of 12 percent year-on-year, VDA said.

During the six months to June, output was steady at 2.917 million vehicles.

The number of new cars exported increased by 17 percent in June alone and edged up by one percent in the six-month period, VDA added.