In April, new passenger car registrations in Germany increased by 20% year-over-year to 243,102. During the first four months of the year, the number of registrations amounted to 937,887, up 8% compared to a year ago.
Plug-in electric car sales also improved last month, although only thanks to the rebound in plug-in hybrids. All-electric car sales were flat year-over-year. Considering the lack of EV incentives in 2024, this is necessarily bad news.
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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 171,125 (down 1.5% year-over-year).
In April, the total number of new plug-in electric car registrations amounted to 44,803, up 8% year over year. The market share decreased to 18.4%, compared to 20.5% a year ago, because the overall market expanded faster.
Battery-electric car registrations decreased by 0.2% year-over-year to 29,668, so its market share shrunk to 12.2%, compared to 14.7% a year ago. Plug-in hybrid car registrations noted an increase of 28% year-over-year to 15,135.
Plug-in car registrations last month (YOY change):
- BEVs: 29,668 (down 0.2%) and 12.2% market share
- PHEVs: 15,135 (up 28%) and 6.2% market share
- Total: 44,803 (up 8%) and 18.4% market share
Plug-in electric car registrations in Germany – April 2024
So far this year, new passenger plug-in electric car registrations amounted to 171,125 (down 1.5% year-over-year), about 18.2% of the total volume. A year ago, rechargeable cars had 20% of the market.
Plug-in car registrations year-to-date (YOY change):
- BEVs: 111,005 (down 11%) and 11.8% market share
- PHEVs: 60,120 (up 22%) and 6.4% market share
- Total: 171,125 (down 1.5%) and 18.2% 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.
It will be interesting to see whether growth returns and whether rechargeable cars capture a higher market share in the latter part of 2024.
Top brands
Last month, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen, BMW, and Audi had the highest number of newly registered plug-in cars. Tesla was eighth with just 1,637 units—far behind German competitors, even without considering plug-in hybrids.
Plug-in car registrations by brands (at least 1,000) last month:
- Mercedes-Benz: 7,081 - 3,184 BEVs and 3,897 PHEVs
- Volkswagen: 6,256 - 6,004 BEVs and 252 PHEVs
- BMW: 5,767 - 3,563 BEVs and 2,204 PHEVs
- Audi: 3,575 - 1,994 BEVs and 1,581 PHEVs
- Volvo: 3,562 - 1,490 BEVs and 2,072 PHEVs
- Hyundai: 1,919 - 1,605 BEVs and 314 PHEVs
- Seat: 1,836 - 701 BEVs and 1,135 PHEVs
- Tesla: 1,637 BEVs
- Skoda: 1,532 - 1,469 BEVs and 63 PHEVs
- smart: 1,532 BEVs
- Kia: 1,449 - 937 BEVs and 512 PHEVs
- Ford: 1,014 - 224 BEVs and 790 PHEVs
After the first four months of the year, Mercedes-Benz remains at the top for plug-ins, while Tesla is now only slightly ahead of Volkswagen in the all-electric car segment. Moreover, Mercedes-Benz and BMW are also selling a relatively high number of EVs.
Plug-in car registrations by brands year-to-date (at least 4,000):
- Mercedes-Benz: 25,637 - 10,904 BEVs and 14,733 PHEVs
- BMW: 18,809 - 11,522 BEVs and 7,287 PHEVs
- Volkswagen: 16,018 - 14,641 BEVs and 1,377 PHEVs
- Tesla: 14,705 BEVs
- Audi: 13,209 - 7,855 BEVs and 5,354 PHEVs
- Volvo: 11,702 - 4,859 BEVs and 6,843 PHEVs
- Seat: 7,865 - 3,115 BEVs and 4,750 PHEVs
- Hyundai: 6,601 - 5,382 BEVs and 1,219 PHEVs
- Skoda: 5,818 - 5,391 BEVs and 427 PHEVs
- Kia: 5,589 - 3,762 BEVs and 1,827 PHEVs
- Opel: 5,435 - 3,035 BEVs and 2,400 PHEVs
- smart: 5,414 BEVs
- Ford: 4,750 - 983 BEVs and 3,767 PHEVs
- Porsche: 4,502 - 1,036 BEVs and 3,466 PHEVs
- MG Roewe: 4,003 - 4,001 BEVs and 2 PHEVs
Top BEV models
The Tesla Model Y remains Germany's best-selling all-electric car model, with 12,147 new registrations year-to-date (including 1,102 in April).
However, multiple models noted better results in April: Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 (3,234), Skoda Enyaq iV (1,469) and Audi Q4 e-tron (1,184). It's worth noting that the all-new Volvo EX30 is also doing great, with 1,064 units last month.
Top all-electric models year-to-date in 2024 (YOY change):
- Tesla Model Y - 12,147 (down 30.5%)
- Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 - 7,460 (down 21.5%)
- Skoda Enyaq iV - 5,391 (up 30%)
- Audi Q4 e-tron - 4,612 (down 7%)
- Volkswagen ID.3 - 4,557 (down 38%)
