Passenger car market grows in February – significant decline in electric vehicles

The German passenger car market grew by 5.4% in February compared to the same month last year. A total of 217,388 new passenger cars were registered in the country, with February having one more working day than the previous year. Since the beginning of the year, 430,941 new passenger car registrations have been registered, which is an increase of 11.8% compared to the first two months of 2023. New registrations of purely battery-electric vehicles declined significantly in February (-15.4%).

Reinhard Zirpel, President of the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK), explained: “The overall market growth shows that the demand for individual mobility remains high. At the same time, we are seeing clear signs of a slowdown in the electric vehicle market and great uncertainty among consumers. We now need clear decisions at a political level and less zigzagging, in short: reliability for and trust in the economy and consumers.”

27,479 purely battery-electric passenger cars (BEVs) rolled onto the roads, 15.4% fewer than in February 2023. The BEV market share reached 12.6%. For the first time since 2015, the February figures for both the total number of BEV registrations and the BEV market share fell. In 2023 as a whole, the BEV share was still at 18.4%.

New registrations of plug-in hybrids (PHEV) increased by 22.3% compared to the very weak same month last year. 14,575 hybrids with plugs were newly registered. This corresponds to a 6.7% share of total passenger car registrations in February. Since January 2024, plug-in hybrids have increased by 39.5% compared to the same period last year. The main reason for the strong growth is the slump in the PHEV market at the beginning of 2023 due to the subsidy freeze at the time. BEVs and plug-in hybrids together accounted for 42,054 registrations in February 2024, a decrease of 5.3% compared to the same month last year.

Registrations of light and heavy commercial vehicles grew by 18.8% to 32,170 units in February. Since January, 61,414 new commercial vehicles have been registered, an increase of 14.2%.