New car registrations in Germany increased by more than three per cent during April, according to official figures.

The Government vehicle registration department KBA released the statistics, which provide further evidence of improvements in the industry.

Passenger car registrations, which generally mirror sales, rose by 3.4 per cent in total to 297,126 vehicles last month, Reuters reports.

The department commented: "The positive growth rates give rise to hope of a sustained recovery."

The new figures back those published by the VDA motor industry trade association last week, which revealed an increase of four per cent in new car sales.

The proportion of diesel-powered passenger cars continued to increase, KBA also explained. High petrol prices helped diesel cars achieve a market share of 41.7 per cent in April.

Overall, registrations declined by 1.1 per cent year-on-year during the first four months of 2004 to 1.06 million.

Increases in car sales may affect the volumes of platinum, palladium and rhodium bought by the auto industry for use in autocatalysts to control harmful emissions.