Berlin  - New car registrations in Germany jumped by 30 percent in July, the motor vehicle office (KBA) said Tuesday with the rise helped along by a government-backed incentive to encourage people to upgrade their vehicles.

The year-on-year increase brought the number of new registrations in Europe's biggest car market to about 340,000.

In the first months of the year, new car registrations rose by 27 per cent to 2.4 million vehicles with car sales racing ahead by 40 per cent in June alone.

Berlin's 2,500-euro (3,600 dollar) bonus for car owners who scrap their old vehicles in favour of new more environmentally oriented models has helped to offset the sharp decline in German car exports as a result of the crisis in the motor vehicle market.

In separate figures, Germany's car industry association VDA said Tuesday exports of German vehicles fell by 12 per cent to 290,000 in July.

In the seven months of the year, German car exports dropped by 31 per cent compared with the same period last year.(dpa)