One third fewer BEVs in July – Tariffs threaten to further worsen the situation

New registrations in the German passenger car market fell by 2.1% to 238,263 vehicles in July compared to the same month last year. Registrations of electric vehicles also continued to decline significantly. In July 2024, 30,762 purely battery electric passenger cars (BEV) were newly registered on the roads, which corresponds to a drop of 36.8% compared to the strong same month last year. This is the result of an analysis of the statistics of the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) by the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK).

In view of the continuing sharp decline in battery electric vehicles, VDIK President Lohscheller warns against the creation of new trade barriers:

“If BEVs become significantly more expensive in the future due to the introduction of additional tariffs, this will mean another setback for the ramp-up of electromobility. The desire for affordable electric mobility in Germany and the German government’s target of 15 million BEVs by 2030 will then become unattainable. Yet customers want electric cars from international production: according to the Puls study “Made in Germany”, two thirds of car buyers believe that the best electric cars are built by international manufacturers.”

Special effects
On the one hand, July 2024 had two more working days than the same month last year. On the other hand, the market decline in the current month is also characterized by a special effect in June: Due to the implementation of new EU type approval regulations as of July 7, 2024, some new registrations had been brought forward in June, which the market is now missing in July. In the first seven months of 2024, a total of 1,709,904 new passenger cars were registered, which corresponds to an increase of 4.3% compared to the same period last year.

Due to the abolition of the BEV purchase premium for commercial customers from September 2023, the market for purely battery-electric passenger cars had developed above average in a historical comparison, especially in August, but also to a lesser extent in the previous months. The share of BEVs in total registrations was 12.9% in July 2024, compared to 20.0% in July of last year. Since the beginning of the year, the number of new BEV registrations has amounted to 214,887 passenger cars (-20.1%).

Alternative drives

Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) recorded a slight increase of 3.2% last month compared to the same month last year, with 14,811 new registrations. The PHEV market share in July was 6.2 percent. Since the beginning of the year, new registrations have totaled 104,360 units (+11.7%).

In total, electric vehicles – i.e. BEVs and PHEVs combined – accounted for 45,573 new car registrations in July, 27.7% fewer than in the same month last year. Their market share was 19.1% (July 2023: 25.9%). Between January and July, 319,247 new electric passenger cars were registered, a decrease of 11.9% compared to the same period last year.

The number of new commercial vehicle registrations in July was 29,125, 5.1% lower than in July of the previous year. Since January, new registrations have totaled 235,780 commercial vehicles (+13.3%).