BERLIN, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Car exports of Germany's automotive industry declined by around 15 percent in the first six months of 2019 to a total of 1.9 million cars, the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) announced on Tuesday.
The weaker order intake from abroad would affect production of Germany's automotive industry since "three out of four cars assembled in Germany are being exported", according to VDA.
"Free trade is coming under increasing pressure worldwide," warned VDA president Bernhard Mattes, during his speech at the association's half-year press conference.
Matthes stressed that "trade conflicts cause massive damage". He urged the "dismantling of non-tariff barriers to trade", and called for "modern free trade agreements".
In line with falling export numbers, production of German cars declined by 12 percent to a total of 2.5 million cars.
Domestic demand for German cars, however, remained comparably solid, increasing by 1 percent to around 1.8 million newly registered cars in Germany in the first half of 2019. According to VDA, this was the highest "market volume" within a first half of a year in this century.
Germany's largest car manufacturer Volkswagen recently reported a decline in global sales of 3.7 percent during the first 5 months this year.
