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MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - The mood in the sluggish German car industry is deteriorating again. In July, the Ifo Institute's indicator for the business climate in the automotive industry fell to minus 18.3 points, after minus 9.5 points in June. This was announced by the Munich-based economic research institute on Monday. "The automotive industry is thus slipping further into crisis," said automotive expert Anita Wolfl.

According to the survey, car companies assess both their current situation and their expectations for the next three months as worse than in June. "A significant improvement is probably not to be expected in the coming months," said Wolfl. According to Ifo, plant capacity utilization has fallen to 77.7 per cent, nine percentage points below the long-term average. Export expectations have also fallen sharply. In spring, the Ifo indicator had risen temporarily, raising hopes of an end to the economic slump./cho/DP/ngu