Due to weak demand for electric cars, the industry is further reducing its forecast for 2024. Annual sales of only 372,000 purely battery-powered cars are expected, 29 percent less than in the previous year, as the Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) with President Hildegard Müller (57) announced. The industry association had previously assumed a decline of 25 percent to 393,000 new electric cars.
In the first nine months, Germany According to the information, only 276,000 battery-only vehicles were sold, 29 percent less than in the same period last year. According to the VDA, the main reason for this is the loss of e-car funding last year. This means that 13 percent of all new registrations were electric cars.
Car production is falling
Overall, fewer cars were built in Germany in the first nine months than in the same period last year. At around 3.11 million vehicles, passenger car production was one percent below the previous year’s level. That is even 13 percent less than in the pre-Corona year 2019.
Exports developed somewhat better. In the first nine months, 2.42 million German-made cars were sold abroad, three percent more than in the same period last year. However, that is still almost ten percent less than the pre-crisis level in 2019.
In September, orders from abroad fell by six percent compared to the same month last year, while domestic demand increased by 19 percent. However, this could not compensate for the weak foreign business. Overall, two percent fewer orders were received than in the same period in 2023. There was a slight increase in the first half of the year.