The figures for September show that sales dropped by 20.1% or by 49,662 sold units, giving a total of 197, 233 cars.

Year-to-date sales are down by 13.0% or 266,753 items in comparison to the same period of the previous year with a total of 1,779,947 cars sold.

Commenting on the figures, the AEB AMC said that September showed a sales improvement, but no fundamental trend reversal.

Joerg Schreiber, chairman of the AEB Automobile Manufacturers Committee, remarked: ‘September sales show a visible improvement over August, reflecting the end of the holiday season and quarter closing efforts by the market participants. Industry baseline performance however remains weak, demonstrated in the ongoing significant volume erosion compared to prior year.

‘Until year-end, the negative sales trend should be mitigated somewhat as a result of government measures in support of domestic vehicle production. We do not expect however a fundamental trend reversal for the total market during the fourth quarter of the year.

‘Considering also the weaker-than-expected market performance in the third quarter, we are maintaining our full year outlook for the sales of PC and LCV in 2014 at a level of 2.45 million units, equivalent to a 12% drop compared to 2013 result of 2.77 million units.’