German car sales fell 6% in October but Peugeot, Toyota gain ground on VW

BERLIN -- German new-car sales fell by 5.6 percent in October as Peugeot, Toyota and Renault all gained ground on Volkswagen Group's VW core brand, which fell 20 percent.

Registrations dropped to 262,724 vehicles, the KBA motor transport authority said on Wednesday. Adjusted for the effect of two fewer selling days, registrations actually rose by about 5 percent last month, an industry source told Reuters.

Sales at the Peugeot and Toyota brands increased by 12 percent at both brands. Renault increased registrations by 3.4 percent.

Among other volume brands, Fiat brand slipped 6.8 percent, while Ford was down 8 percent. Opel volume was flat, falling just 0.1 percent.

Sales at VW Group's other brands were mixed. Audi registrations fell 2.9 percent and sales slipped 13 percent at Porsche. Seat and Skoda registrations rose 2.8 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.

Ten-month registrations were up 4.9 percent to 2.82 million.

In other key European markets, France posted a 4-percent drop in October registrations to 155,202 vehicles while sales in Spain rose by the same margin to 83,248 cars.