Passenger car market closes the first half of 2017 with a plus of 3.2 percent – VDIK increases forecast for full year 2017

Frankfurt. The passenger car market in Germany developed significantly better than expected in the first half-year, with a presumed increase of 3.2 percent over the comparable period and approximately million newly registered passenger cars.

The VDIK member companies participate above average from the positive development, they are increasing their market share by two percentage points to 37.7 percent. With a total of more than 670,000 units, they have achieved the best half-year result since the year of the environmental bonus.

The private market grew by 3.2 percent to more than 620,000 expected new passenger car registrations and now accounts for 35 percent of the passenger car market. With a plus of 10 percent, the international manufacturers were able to increase their market share in the private market from 43.4 percent to 46 percent. Nearly every second vehicle in the private market comes from an international manufacturer.

The fleet market reached a new record high in the first six months with approximately 421,000 registrations and grew by 1.4 percent. Here, too, VDIK members are above average with a plus of 13 percent. Their market share in this segment has risen from 25.6 to around 29 percent.

New registrations on motor vehicle construction, automotive trade and car rental companies rose by about 4.4 percent to approx. 745,000 units.

New registrations of passenger cars with diesel engines have declined by 8 percent in the first half of the year, but still account for 42 percent. Cars with petrol engines have increased by 11 percent. New registrations with alternative drive systems have the highest rate of increase with 77 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. With almost 50,000 passenger car registrations, their share of total new registrations in the first half of the year now amounts to 2.8 percent.

The alternative type of drive currently best-selling in Germany is the hybrid without a plug-in. 25,000 units of these vehicles were newly registered in the first half year. This is an increase of around 75 percent. Registrations for plug-in hybrid vehicles reached about 12,000 units and increased by 98 percent. The registrations of passenger cars with pure electric drive grew by 119 percent to more than 9,500 new registrations. The share of the VDIK members currently accounts for 47 percent in the segment of pure electric vehicles.

SUVs and off-road vehicles together account for a plus of 25 percent to approx. 418,000 units. As a result, this segment now has almost the same volume as the compact class, which reaches 420,0000 new registrations and thus declines by about 6 percent compared to the same period of the previous year. The segment of small cars is up 4 percent, while the medium-sized cars remain just below the previous year’s level.

VDIK President Reinhard Zirpel: “The passenger car market in Germany developed very positively from January to June 2017. The positive framework conditions have prompted us to increase our forecast for the full year 2017 to over 3.4 million new registrations.”