German Car Sales Improve in May

The ailing German car market continued to recover in May after a difficult start to the year, with sales rising six percent, figures published on Friday showed. Around 300,000 new cars were registered in May, according to the auto industry federation VDA. The increase in sales helped offset a drop of two percent in sales in the first quarter of 2005. Overall, since the start of the year, new car registrations have increased by one percent compared with the corresponding period a year earlier, to a total of 1.36 million vehicles. But VDA president Bernd Gottschalk remained cautious. "There is no cause for celebration, even if sales are up," he said, adding that weak consumer spending "remains Germany's Achilles' heel."