New passenger car registrations up 8 percent in September

The German passenger car market recorded an 8 percent increase in September compared to the same month last year. The Federal Motor Transport Authority registered 265,227 new registrations. However, September 2020 had one more working day.

In the first three quarters of 2020 the decline was 25 percent, with million new passenger cars registered. In the third quarter alone, the drop was 7 percent. This means that the market is still at its lowest level since reunification. Over 827,500 new passenger cars were registered by the international brands between January and September. During this period, the market share of the VDIK members rose to over 40 percent (previous year: 39.1 percent).

Reinhard Zirpel, President of the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers, explained: “The German passenger car market has initially left the deep trough of the first half of the year behind. Nevertheless, the minus of 700,000 new registrations compared to the first 9 months of the previous year illustrates the economic impact of the corona virus. This loss of registrations cannot be made up for by the end of the year either. The driving force in the passenger car market is private customers, who were significantly more willing to make purchases in the third quarter than other customer groups”.

New private registrations rose by 18 percent in September, significantly outperforming the market as a whole. In the first nine months, a good 746,000 new registrations were recorded by private customers, a drop of 23 percent over the course of the year.

The market for diesel passenger cars declined by 6 percent in September. In total, more than 610,000 diesel passenger cars were newly registered between January and September. The share of passenger cars with pure diesel engines thus fell to 30 percent (same period last year: 32 percent).

The alternative drive systems recorded significant growth rates. According to the KBA, 21,188 passenger cars with battery electric drives were newly registered (up 260 percent). In addition, 20,127 new plug-in hybrids (up 463 percent) hit the roads.
 
The commercial vehicle market also showed a positive trend in September, with 31,865 new registrations, up 18 percent. This growth is almost exclusively attributable to light commercial vehicles. From January to September, however, the decline is still 21 percent. The VDIK therefore continues to advocate a European fleet renewal program for environmentally friendly heavy commercial vehicles, as provided for in the economic stimulus package. The Federal Government should strongly advocate this in Brussels.