Volkswagen’s EV Sales Surpass Tesla In Germany
But overall EV sales were down more than 30% last month.
In May, new passenger car registrations in Germany decreased by 4.3% year-over-year to 236,425; EVs contributed significantly.
The total number of new plug-in electric car registrations last month amounted to 43,746, down 23% year over year. The market share decreased to 18.5%, compared to 22.9% a year ago. However, let's note the lack of EV incentives in 2024, too.
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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. So far this year, the number of registrations amounted to 214,871, down 7% year over year.
Battery-electric car registrations decreased by 30.6% year-over-year to 29,708, taking the EV market share down to 12.6%, compared to 17.3% a year ago. Plug-in hybrid car registrations noted a marginal increase of nearly 2% year-over-year to 14,038.
The results are pretty disappointing, but it seems it will be difficult to achieve growth this year.
Plug-in car registrations last month (YOY change):
- BEVs: 29,708 (down 31%) and 12.6% market share
- PHEVs: 14,038 (up 2%) and 5.9% market share
- Total: 43,746 (down 23%) and 18.5% market share
Plug-in electric car registrations in Germany – May 2024
So far this year, new passenger plug-in electric car registrations amounted to 214,871, down 7% year over year. Plug-ins account for 18.3% of the total sales volume.
Plug-in car registrations year-to-date (YOY change):
- BEVs: 140,713 (down 16%) and 12% market share
- PHEVs: 74,158 (up 17%) and 6.3% market share
- Total: 214,871 (down 7%) and 18.3% market share
For reference, in 2023, 699,943 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in Germany, close to 25% of the total volume.
Top brands
Last month, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and BMW had the highest number of newly registered plug-in cars, all of which sold over 5,000 units. Volkswagen was number one in the all-electric category with 5,174 units.
Tesla is losing its steam recently, getting less than 1,900 new registrations in May.
Plug-in car registrations by brands (at least 1,000) last month:
- Mercedes-Benz: 5,925 - 2,441 BEVs and 3,484 PHEVs
- Volkswagen: 5,421 - 5,174 BEVs and 247 PHEVs
- BMW: 5,244 - 3,346 BEVs and 1,898 PHEVs
- Volvo: 3,268 - 1,370 BEVs and 1,898 PHEVs
- Audi: 2,858 - 1,550 BEVs and 1,308 PHEVs
- Seat: 2,731 - 1,420 BEVs and 1,311 PHEVs
- MG Roewe: 2,353 BEVs
- Skoda: 1,950 - 1,920 BEVs and 30 PHEVs
- Tesla: 1,896 BEVs
- smart: 1,509 BEVs
- Hyundai: 1,458 - 1,175 BEVs and 283 PHEVs
- Kia: 1,452 - 1,055 BEVs and 397 PHEVs
After the first five months of the year, Mercedes-Benz has strengthened as the brand with the highest number of rechargeable car registrations. Meanwhile, Volkswagen has returned to the top in the all-electric car segment with a noticeable advantage over Tesla (19,815 vs. 16,601). The German brand was #1 in 2023.
Plug-in car registrations by brands year-to-date (at least 5,000):
- Mercedes-Benz: 31,562 - 13,345 BEVs and 18,217 PHEVs
- BMW: 24,053 - 14,868 BEVs and 9,185 PHEVs
- Volkswagen: 21,439 - 19,815 BEVs and 1,624 PHEVs
- Tesla: 16,601 BEVs
- Audi: 16,067 - 9,405 BEVs and 6,662 PHEVs
- Volvo: 14,970 - 6,229 BEVs and 8,741 PHEVs
- Seat: 10,596 - 4,535 BEVs and 6,061 PHEVs
- Hyundai: 8,059 - 6,557 BEVs and 1,502 PHEVs
- Skoda: 7,768 - 7,311 BEVs and 457 PHEVs
- Kia: 7,041 - 4,817 BEVs and 2,224 PHEVs
- smart: 6,923 BEVs
- MG Roewe: 6,356 - 6,354 BEVs and 2 PHEVs
- Opel: 6,340 - 3,473 BEVs and 2,867 PHEVs
- Ford: 5,681 - 1,272 BEVs and 4,409 PHEVs
- Porsche: 5,447 - 1,401 BEVs and 4,046 PHEVs
Top BEV models
The Tesla Model Y remains Germany's best-selling all-electric car model this year, with 13,316 registrations year-to-date, including 1,169 in May. However, multiple models noted better results in May, including 2,383 Volkswagen ID.3s. The Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 duo has 9,291 registrations, including 1,831 in May.
Top all-electric models year-to-date in 2024 (YOY change):
- Tesla Model Y - 13,316 (down 39%)
- Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 - 9,291 (down 30%)
- Skoda Enyaq iV - 7,311 (up 25%)
- Volkswagen ID.3 - 6,940 (down 27%)
- Audi Q4 e-tron - 5,670 (down 14%)
See also
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