Germany: Massive Plug-In Car Sales Surge In December 2022

BEVs and PHEVs represented the majority of new car sales in the country.

Tesla Model 3 and Model Y

Mark Kane

By: Mark Kane

Jan 12, 2023 at 12:56pm ET

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In December, new passenger car registrations in Germany increased by 38 percent year-over-year to 314,318, which is the highest monthly result in 42 months (July 2019). This interesting outcome allowed Germany to achieve a total of 2,651,357 units sold in 2022 and an increase of 1.1 percent over 2021.

The most important thing is, however, the massive surge of plug-in electric car sales - both all-electric (BEV) and plug-in hybrid (PHEV).

Last month, 174,126 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in Germany, which is 114 percent more than a year ago, the second six-digit result ever (after 102,561 in November) and a new all-time record.

When volume more than doubles, it is always something spectacular, but let's note also the market share of rechargeable passenger cars, which in December amounted to 55.4 percent. That's not only a new record, far beyond the previous one of 39.4 percent, but a true sign of the times that plug-ins are in the majority.

As we can see below, both BEV and PHEV registrations more than doubled year-over-year, reaching new record levels. In the case of all-electric cars, it's the first six-digit result of 104,325 (up 115 percent year-over-year) and one-third of the market (33.2 percent share).

The reason behind such a surge is in big part related to the reduction of incentives for BEVs (from €6,000 to €4,500 for models under €40,000, and from €5,000 to €3,000 for models under €65,000) and elimination of incentives for PHEVs (up to €4,500), from January 1, 2023. It heralds an upcoming slowdown in early 2023, especially for PHEVs.

Results by type:

BEVs: 104,325 – up 115% at 33.2% market share
PHEVs: 69,801 – up 113% at 22.2% market share
Total: 174,126 – up 114% at 55.4% market share

Plug-in electric car registrations in Germany – December 2022

In 2022, more than 832,000 new passenger plug-in cars were registered in Germany, compared to over 681,000 in 2021:

BEVs: 470,559 – up 32% at 17.7% market share
PHEVs: 362,093 – up 11% at 13.7% market share
Total: 832,652 – up 22% at 31.4% market share

The annual growth is noticeable, but nowhere near as spectacular as in December, but let's not forget how challenging this year was in Europe.

If we take a look at the annual results since 2013, it's clear that electrification is quickly progressing towards becoming the major force in the next few years.

Top brands

In December, the Volkswagen brand without any surprise was the top one in terms of plug-in electric car registrations (21,954). However, in terms of battery electric car registrations, the German manufacturer once again was beaten by Tesla (17,501 compared to 16,803 VW).

Tesla's push last month allowed it to achieve a higher overall result of plug-in car registrations than Mercedes-Benz (13,282), Opel (10,835) and BMW (10,264).

It's worth noting that many brands set new monthly records in December.

Plug-in car registrations by brands (at least 4,000) last month:

Volkswagen: 21954 - 16803 BEVs and 5151 PHEVs
Tesla: 17501 BEVs
Mercedes-Benz: 13282 - 4585 BEVs and 8697 PHEVs
Opel: 10835 - 7900 BEVs and 2935 PHEVs
BMW: 10264 - 4506 BEVs and 5758 PHEVs
Audi: 9680 - 4912 BEVs and 4768 PHEVs
SEAT: 8186 - 3404 BEVs and 4782 PHEVs
Ford: 8124 - 1305 BEVs and 6819 PHEVs
Hyundai: 7797 - 6367 BEVs and 1430 PHEVs
Renault: 6972 - 6634 BEVs and 338 PHEVs
Fiat: 6606 BEVs
Kia: 6111 - 2035 BEVs and 4076 PHEVs
Mitsubishi: 4882 PHEVs
Peugeot: 4804 - 3367 BEVs and 1437 PHEVs
MG Roewe: 4493 - 2202 BEVs and 2291 PHEVs
Jeep: 4315 PHEVs
Dacia: 4060 BEVs
Volvo: 4019 - 1497 BEVs and 2522 PHEVs

After 12 months, Tesla managed to enter the top three, as the only non-German brand in the top five. A big achievement is that the company noted the highest number of all-electric car sales (nearly 70,000 registrations).

Nonetheless, the top players in the broader plug-in segment are Volkswagen (94,067) and Mercedes-Benz (79,553), with pretty strong results set also by BMW (66,556) and Audi (58,094).

Year-to-date list (at least 20,000 plug-ins):

Volkswagen: 94067 - 63206 BEVs and 30861 PHEVs
Mercedes-Benz: 79553 - 25182 BEVs and 54371 PHEVs
Tesla: 69963 BEVs
BMW: 66556 - 23470 BEVs and 43086 PHEVs
Audi: 58094 - 28322 BEVs and 29772 PHEVs
Hyundai: 46210 - 32877 BEVs and 13333 PHEVs
SEAT: 39603 - 12595 BEVs and 27008 PHEVs
Opel: 38102 - 29297 BEVs and 8805 PHEVs
Ford: 34612 - 5790 BEVs and 28822 PHEVs
Kia: 31478 - 11456 BEVs and 20022 PHEVs
Renault: 31178 - 27858 BEVs and 3320 PHEVs
Fiat: 29911 BEVs
Peugeot: 23063 - 15371 BEVs and 7692 PHEVs
Skoda: 21462 - 12194 BEVs and 9268 PHEVs

Top models

In December, just like in November, the most registered all-electric model happened to be the Tesla Model 3 with a record of 9,566 units. The result was so good that it almost allowed it to catch up with the Tesla Model Y in year-to-date standings.

The Tesla Model Y noted 7,382 new registrations, securing first place for the year with 35,426 units. The Tesla Model 3 was second in 2022 with 33,841.

The Fiat 500 electric had a very good month with 6,512 registrations in December - enough to comfortably defend the third position in 2022 (29,635).

Other high-volume all-electric models were the Volkswagen ID.3 (6,865 in December and 23,286 in 2022), and the Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 duo counted together (7,191 in December and 24,847 in 2022).

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The top all-electric models year-to-date:

Tesla Model Y - 35,426
Tesla Model 3 - 33,841
Fiat 500 electric - 29,635
Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 - 24,847
Volkswagen ID.3 - 23,286
Hyundai Kona Electric - 17,029
Opel Corsa-e - 14,979
Dacia Spring - 14,366
Hyundai Ioniq 5 - 14,080
Volkswagen e-up! - 13,238
Audi e-tron - 13,232
Opel Mokka-e - 12,916
SEAT Born - 12,564
Audi Q4 e-tron - 12,406
Skoda Enyaq iV - 12,184
MINI Cooper SE - 11,744
Renault ZOE - 10,535
BMW i3 - 9,850

Official stats (KBA):