New car sales in Europe’s largest market Germany are settling into levels slightly above last year, as registration data by Germany’s Kraftfahrtbundesamt show. With 258.253 cars sold in October, sales in the month were 0.6 percent above the same month in the prior year. 10 months into the year, Germans registered 2.66 million new cars, up  9.8 percent compared to the same period in 2010.

Defying gasoline prices twice than those of the U.S., the trend to larger cars continues unabated. The upper class is up  29.7 percent, vans are up 11.3 percent. Compact cars are up only 4.7

Interesting: the often overlooked commercial vehicles are up solidly, both for October (+9 percent) and the first 10 months of the year (+21 percent). Sales of commercial vehicles are often seen as a leading indicator: If you have more goods to move around, you need trucks.

Full data, including brand sales, are available here.