(Reuters) - German industrial production fell in July by a larger than expected 2.4% compared with the previous month, the federal statistics office said on Friday.
Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted a 0.3% fall.
Production dropped by a sharp 8.1% in the automotive industry, weighing on the overall result.
In June, automotive production rose 7.9%.
On a less volatile three month on three month comparison, production in May-July fell 2.7% compared with the February-April period.
The office offers more detailed data on its website.
(Reporting by Anastasiia Kozlova and Halilcan Soran, editing by Andrey Sychev and Christina Fincher)