In August, new passenger car registrations in Germany increased by 37 percent year-over-year to 273,417. During the first eight months of 2023, 1,913,564 new cars were registered (up 16.5 percent year-over-year).
Last month was very strong in terms of plug-in electric car sales, which increased to the highest level so far this year.
In August, the total new plug-in electric car registrations amounted to 101,201 (up 78 percent year-over-year), which is 37.0 percent of the total volume (compared to 28.5 percent a year ago).
This outstanding result is related solely to the surge in battery electric cars (BEV) sales, which increased by almost 171 percent year-over-year to 86,649. That’s about 31.7 percent of the total market (compared to 16.1 percent a year ago).
Plug-in hybrid car (PHEV) registrations, decreased year-over-year for the eighth consecutive month, dragging down the overall plug-in segment. Let’s recall that this year, PHEVs are not supported by the generous incentives, which is the main reason behind the substantial sales drop.
New plug-in vehicle registrations:
- BEVs: 86,649 – up 171% and 31.7% market share
- PHEVs: 14,552 – down 41% and 5.3% market share
- Total: 101,201 – up 78% and 37.0% market share
So far this year, more than 463,000 new passenger plug-in electric cars have been registered in Germany, which is over 24 percent of the total volume.
Registrations year-to-date:
- BEVs: 355,575 – up 56% and 18.6% market share
- PHEVs: 107,962 – down 42% and 5.6% market share
- Total: 463,537 – up 12% and 24.2% market share
For reference, in 2022, more than 832,000 new passenger plug-in cars were registered in Germany (31.4 percent of the total volume), compared to over 681,000 in 2021.
In August, the highest number of new plug-in electric car registrations was noted by the Volkswagen brand (11,683), which also noted the highest number of all-electric car registrations (11,418).
Next was the Mercedes-Benz (8,034), which is the king of plug-in hybrids and most recently set also its new record of BEV registrations – 4,659. BMW (third overall with 7,183 units) also set a new record of BEV registrations – 4,890.
Several other brands also set their BEV records, including Hyundai (6,523), Kia (4,139), Seat/Cupra (3,483), Skoda (3,345) and Toyota (981).
Our attention caught a group of Chinese manufacturers, which are entering the European market with new best results of BEV registrations: MG Roewe (2,368), GWM (2,210), BYD (2,034) and NIO (411). The combined volume of the Chinese brands and other Chinese import (like Dacia, part of the Smart brand), is now a serious threat to the local automotive industry.
Tesla this time had a relatively slower month with 6,903 new registrations (up 30.5 percent year-over-year).
Plug-in car registrations by brands (at least 2,000) last month:
- Volkswagen: 11683 – 11418 BEVs and 265 PHEVs
- Mercedes-Benz: 8034 – 4659 BEVs and 3375 PHEVs
- BMW: 7183 – 4890 BEVs and 2293 PHEVs
- Opel: 6999 – 6495 BEVs and 504 PHEVs
- Tesla: 6903 BEVs
- Hyundai: 6821 – 6523 BEVs and 298 PHEVs
- Audi: 4866 – 3374 BEVs and 1492 PHEVs
- Kia: 4683 – 4139 BEVs and 544 PHEVs
- Seat/Cupra: 4468 – 3483 BEVs and 985 PHEVs
- Skoda: 3676 – 3345 BEVs and 331 PHEVs
- Fiat: 3247 BEVs
- Renault: 3106 – 3074 BEVs and 32 PHEVs
- Dacia: 3027 BEVs
- smart: 2947 BEVs
- MG Roewe: 2368 BEVs
- GWM: 2211 – 2210 BEVs and 1 PHEV
- BYD: 2034 BEVs
After the first eight months of the year, the top three brands in terms of plug-in car sales were Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz and Tesla. While excluding plug-in hybrids, the top three is Volkswagen, Tesla and Mercedes-Benz.
Plug-in car registrations by brands (at least 8,000) year-to-date:
- Volkswagen: 58082 – 52893 BEVs and 5189 PHEVs
- Mercedes-Benz: 50769 – 25272 BEVs and 25497 PHEVs
- Tesla: 47192 BEVs
- BMW: 34596 – 20877 BEVs and 13719 PHEVs
- Audi: 30863 – 20160 BEVs and 10703 PHEVs
- Hyundai: 24990 – 21934 BEVs and 3056 PHEVs
- Opel: 19111 – 15423 BEVs and 3688 PHEVs
- Seat: 18690 – 11156 BEVs and 7534 PHEVs
- Skoda: 16322 – 13010 BEVs and 3312 PHEVs
- Fiat: 14536 BEVs
- Kia: 14475 – 10367 BEVs and 4108 PHEVs
- smart: 12608 BEVs
- MG Roewe: 12034 – 12014 BEVs and 20 PHEVs
- Volvo: 11980 – 6232 BEVs and 5748 PHEVs
- Renault: 11470 – 10874 BEVs and 596 PHEVs
- Peugeot: 9894 – 7698 BEVs and 2196 PHEVs
- Ford: 9267 – 3044 BEVs and 6223 PHEVs
- MINI: 9194 – 8962 BEVs and 232 PHEVs
- Dacia: 8148 BEVs
Last month, the Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 duo happened to be the most registered BEV in Germany (5,683 units), noticeably ahead of the Tesla Model Y (4,795) and Volkswagen ID.3 (3,636).
The Tesla Model Y remains the top selling all-electric car in Germany, although there are several Volkswagen Group’s MEB-based models at the top with a pretty significant combined volume.
Top all-electric models year-to-date:
- Tesla Model Y – 34,687
- Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 – 28,088
- Volkswagen ID.3 – 17,283
- Fiat 500 electric – 14,352
- Skoda Enyaq iV – 13,009
- Audi Q4 e-tron – 12,002
- Tesla Model 3 – 11,060
