Passenger car market grows only moderately in October

With 218,959 new registrations, the passenger car market grew only moderately in October compared to the same month last year. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, 4.9 percent more passenger cars were registered. However, October had one more working day this year than in 2022. Adjusted for the number of working days, there was almost no change compared to the same month last year (-0.1%). Registrations of VDIK brands increased slightly more strongly at plus 12.3 percent. The VDIK market share in October was 41.5 percent. A total of 2,357,025 new passenger cars were registered between January and October of this year, which corresponds to an increase of 13.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

Reinhard Zirpel, President of the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK), said: “Despite the stable development of new passenger car registrations in October, we are concerned that the German market remains well below its long-term average level. Last month was the third worst October in the past 20 years. Unfortunately, electric vehicle registrations, which had previously provided the most momentum, have also been weakening since September. The disappointing registration figures are a direct consequence of the limited and reduced subsidies. Without forward-looking financial framework conditions for electric vehicles, the German government’s 15 million target remains unattainable from today’s perspective.”

New registrations of electric vehicles fell noticeably overall in October. This is mainly due to the slump in registrations of plug-in hybrids, which have no longer been subsidized with the environmental bonus since the beginning of the year. At 16,361 vehicles, 49% fewer plug-in hybrids were therefore registered in October 2023 than in the same month last year. Since the beginning of September, the subsidy has also been discontinued for commercially registered purely battery electric cars (BEV).In contrast to the months up to August, BEV registrations therefore only rose minimally in October, namely by 4.3%.Overall, BEVs have nevertheless recorded growth of 37.8% since the beginning of the year compared to the same period last year. The market share of BEVs was 17.1% in October, while that of plug-in hybrids was 7.5%.

There was a slight increase of 3.9% in new commercial registrations. Growth in private registrations was stronger, increasing by 6.7% compared to the same month last year. Private customers thus accounted for 36.1% of the total market in October (same month last year: 35.4%).

The commercial vehicle market grew by 18 percent in October. A total of 28,435 new commercial vehicles were registered. Since January, new commercial vehicle registrations have totaled 300,993, an increase of 21.2 percent compared to the months of January to October in the previous year.