Down 22 percent in April

The German passenger car market declined by 22 percent in April compared to the same month last year. The Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) registered 180,300 new registrations. In the first four months of 2022, around 806,200 new passenger cars were registered, which corresponds to a minus of 9 percent compared to the same period last year. The market share of the VDIK members was around 40 percent between January and April (previous year: 38 percent).

Reinhard Zirpel, President of the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK), stated: “Hopes for a recovery of the German passenger car market in 2022 are fading from month to month. The seriousness of the situation is underlined by the fact that new registrations are now declining even for electric cars. The various external impairments to production continue to weigh heavily on the automotive industry. Potential customers of e-vehicles are also uncertain about future subsidy conditions. The German government should therefore quickly provide clarity and continue to ambitiously promote both pure electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.”

The private market fell by around 18 percent in April to 64,600 units. For the year as a whole, however, there was still a 1 percent increase.

With a minus of 7 percent, battery-electric passenger cars were also affected by the negative market trend. This is the first time since April 2020 that pure electric vehicles have recorded a year-on-year decline. Over the year as a whole, however, there was still growth of 20 percent to 105,900 units. New registrations of plug-in hybrids fell by 20 percent in April to 21,700 units. In total, around 89,500 new plug-in hybrids have been registered so far in 2022 (down 15 percent).

The market for diesel-powered passenger cars also continued to be weak. Between January and April, around 161,500 diesel passenger cars were newly registered, down 22.5 percent year-on-year. The diesel share has thus fallen to 20 percent (January to April 2021: 24 percent).

The commercial vehicle market recorded a significant drop of 31 percent in April, with around 21,600 new registrations. In the first four months of the year, 100,600 new commercial vehicles were registered, a drop of 16 percent.