Strong growth for electric car orders in Germany
Germany produced just under 1.1 million passenger vehicles in the first quarter of 2026, down by 2% compared to the same period last year.
Industry association VDA said German original equipment manufacturers had exported just under 800,000 passenger cars over the three-month period, also down by 2% year on year.
In the first quarter of this year, the electric car market in Germany reached a volume of 235,800 units, an increase of 33% compared to the first three months of 2025. Of these, almost 160,000 were battery-electric vehicles, up by more than 40% year on year. Growth for plug-in hybrids was 19%, taking these vehicles to 76,100 registrations for the period. Fuel cell electric vehicles made up the total.
VDA said it was too soon to say if war in the Middle East and its effects on petrol and diesel prices had affected German consumers’ purchases of electric vehicles. It pointed out that there is, typically, a delay of several months between orders for new cars and their registration.
