The sales growth Electric cars in Germany has slowed significantly in the past year. A total of 524,219 new battery-electric vehicles hit the road. That was an increase of 11.4 percent, as the Federal Motor Transport Authority announced on Tuesday.
Last year the number of new registrations rose by 30 percent. An important factor was the state subsidy for car purchases, which was recently canceled as a result of the Karlsruhe budget ruling. The market share of purely electric cars climbed from 17.7 percent to 18.4 percent. “The ramp-up of electromobility is stalling, many potential customers are waiting,” explained Constantin Gall, car expert at the EY management consultancy.
Falling sales figures in 2024
After growth last year was weaker than expected in the industry, the prospects for 2024 are also “rather poor,” added Gall. In addition to the reluctance of customers due to high car prices and a lack of charging options, the sudden end of the electric car subsidy is making the situation even more difficult. “The loss of funding will lead to a significant decline in buying interest and overall decline in sales of electric cars in 2024.”
Volkswagen overtook the US car manufacturer in 2023 Tesla as the leading electric car brand with 70,628 new cars, an increase of almost twelve percent. Tesla, however, lost nine percent with 63,685 new registrations, even though the Americans’ Model Y was the most popular model ahead of the VW IDs. The three German car companies VW, BMW and Mercedes-Benz achieved above-average growth of 32 percent, increasing their market share to 46 percent from 38 percent.
Targeting providers China, which are expected to experience strong growth, accounted for 5.5 percent of electric cars and almost 8 percent including hybrid models. According to EY, their share has doubled compared to 2022. The Chinese have not yet acted as price breakers, but they are putting established manufacturers under increasing pressure. The most successful of them was the MG Roewe brand, which belongs to VW partner SAIC, and 18,526 new cars came onto the road.