In March, new passenger car registrations in Germany decreased by 6.2% year-over-year to 217,388. During the first three months of the year, the number of registrations amounted to 694,785, up 4.2% compared to a year ago.
Meanwhile, plug-in electric car sales continue to struggle following the end of a tax incentive for all-electric cars in 2023. During the past seven months, only one month had a year-over-year increase in rechargeable car registrations.
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Growth in 2024 will be challenging
In 2023, almost 700,000 new plug-in cars were registered in Germany, down 16% compared to 2022. The Q1 2024 is also in the red and it seems that achieving growth this year will be challenging.
In March, the total new plug-in electric car registrations amounted to 47,400, down 22% year-over-year. The market share decreased to 18.0%, compared to 21.6% a year ago.
Battery-electric car registrations decreased by 29% year-over-year to 31,384, so its market share shrunk to 11.9%, compared to 15.7% a year ago. Plug-in hybrid car registrations noted a slight decrease of almost 5% year-over-year to 16,016.
Plug-in car registrations last month (YOY change):
- BEVs: 31,384 (down 29%) and 11.9% market share
- PHEVs: 16,016 (down 5%) and 6.1% market share
- Total: 47,400 (down 22%) and 18% market share
Plug-in electric car registrations in Germany – March 2024
In Q1, new passenger plug-in electric car registrations amounted to 126,322 (down 5% year-over-year), which is about 18.2% of the total volume. A year ago, rechargeable cars had almost 20% of the market.
Plug-in car registrations year-to-date (YOY change):
- BEVs: 81,337 (down 14%) and 11.7% market share
- PHEVs: 44,985 (up 20%) and 6.5% market share
- Total: 126,322 (down 5%) and 18.2% market share
For reference, in 2023, 699,943 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in Germany, which was close to 25% of the total volume.
Top brands
Last month, three German brands—Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Volkswagen—noted the highest number of new passenger plug-in car registrations in Germany. Interestingly, two premium brands (Mercedes-Benz and BMW) were at the top, noticeably ahead of the more mainstream Volkswagen.
In terms of all-electric cars, this time Volkswagen sold the highest number of EVs (4,349), outpacing Tesla (3,878).
Plug-in car registrations by brands (at least 1,000) last month:
- Mercedes-Benz: 6,844 - 3,123 BEVs and 3,721 PHEVs
- BMW: 5,124 - 3,238 BEVs and 1,886 PHEVs
- Volkswagen: 4,670 - 4,349 BEVs and 321 PHEVs
- Tesla: 3,878 BEVs
- Audi: 3,476 - 1,984 BEVs and 1,492 PHEVs
- Volvo: 3,340 - 1,261 BEVs and 2,079 PHEVs
- Seat: 2,560 - 1,243 BEVs and 1,317 PHEVs
- Opel: 2,188 - 1,442 BEVs and 746 PHEVs
- Hyundai: 1,885 - 1,619 BEVs and 266 PHEVs
- Kia: 1,564 - 1,072 BEVs and 492 PHEVs
- smart: 1,497 BEVs
- Skoda: 1,288 - 1,205 BEVs and 83 PHEVs
- Ford: 1,279 - 475 BEVs and 804 PHEVs
After the first three months of the year, Mercedes-Benz remains at the top for plug-ins, while Tesla is far ahead of the other brands in the all-electric car segment (despite a 37% decrease year-over-year).
Plug-in car registrations by brands year-to-date (at least 3,000):
- Mercedes-Benz: 18,556 - 7,720 BEVs and 10,836 PHEVs
- Tesla: 13,068 BEVs
- BMW: 13,042 - 7,959 BEVs and 5,083 PHEVs
- Volkswagen: 9,762 - 8,637 BEVs and 1,125 PHEVs
- Audi: 9,634 - 5,861 BEVs and 3,773 PHEVs
- Volvo: 8,140 - 3,369 BEVs and 4,771 PHEVs
- Seat: 6,029 - 2,414 BEVs and 3,615 PHEVs
- Hyundai: 4,682 - 3,777 BEVs and 905 PHEVs
- Opel: 4,597 - 2,444 BEVs and 2,153 PHEVs
- Skoda: 4,286 - 3,922 BEVs and 364 PHEVs
- Kia: 4,140 - 2,825 BEVs and 1,315 PHEVs
- smart: 3,882 BEVs
- Ford: 3,736 - 759 BEVs and 2,977 PHEVs
- Porsche: 3,543 - 663 BEVs and 2,880 PHEVs
- MG Roewe: 3,057 - 3,055 BEVs and 2 PHEVs
Top BEV models
The Tesla Model Y remains the best-selling all-electric car model in Germany, with 11,045 new registrations year-to-date (including 3,244 in March).
However, next we can see three closely related model families—Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 (4,226), Skoda Enyaq iV (3,922) and Audi Q4 e-tron (3,428)—which outpaces the Model Y, when counted together (11,576).
Top all-electric models year-to-date in 2024 (YOY change):
- Tesla Model Y - 11,045 (down 30%)
- Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 - 4,226 (down 38%)
- Skoda Enyaq iV - 3,922 (up 43%)
- Audi Q4 e-tron - 3,428 (down 5%)
