EVs could claim 33% of German car sales this year
There are signs that the German car market may have hit bottom and is now staging a recovery in sales.
After a 2.9% year-on-year decline in July with 206,000 units sold, there was a 3% year-on-year increase in August to 199,000 units, and a further increase of 14.1% in September to almost 225,000 units sold. The low point of the year was in April when only 180,000 units were purchased in the country.
In common with other major car markets worldwide, the segment that has shown most increase and resilience are electric vehicles (EVs). Sales of full electric vehicles grew by 32% year-on-year with 43,600 registered, representing 19% of the overall market. Plugin hybrids managed to capture 13% of sales with some 28,000 new units registered.
EV market share year-to-date share is 29%, and it could reach one third of all passenger car sales this year in Germany. However, there are two negative factors to consider: the rising cost of electricity which could make EVs more expensive to charge than filling up the tank with petrol and the end of government incentives to trade in petrol-driven vehicles for EVs.
The best-selling model in Germany in September was an EV for the first time. This was the Tesla Model Y that sold 9,800 thousand units, beating its own record.
