Slight decline in the passenger car market in May – sharp drop in all-electric cars

The passenger car market in Germany declined slightly in May compared to the same month last year. New registrations fell by 4.3% to 236,425 units (May 2023: 247,000). In the first five months of 2024, a total of 1,174,312 new passenger cars were registered, an increase of 5.2% compared to the same period last year.

“Overall, the passenger car market is developing relatively stably this year,” says Reinhard Zirpel, President of the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers. “The slump in May registrations of fully electric vehicles is massive. Political signals and countermeasures are now needed quickly to restore consumer confidence in e-mobility. This includes the accelerated expansion of the charging infrastructure as well as strategic approaches to reduce the price of electricity in Germany, which is one of the highest in the EU.”

New registrations of purely battery electric vehicles (BEV) fell by 30.6 percent in May. 29,708 BEVs rolled onto the roads, compared to 42,800 units in May 2023. The BEV share of total registrations in May reached 12.6 percent. Since the beginning of the year, 140,713 new registrations of purely battery-electric cars have been recorded. This means that the BEV market at the end of May was 15.9% below the registration level of the first five months of 2023.

New registrations of plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) increased again in May.14,038 PHEVs represent an increase of 1.7% compared to the same month last year.The PHEV share of new passenger car registrations in May amounted to 5.9%. A total of 74,158 PHEVs were newly registered from January to May (+17.5%).

Electric vehicles – i.e. BEVs and PHEVs together – reached 43,746 new registrations in May. This is a decrease of 22.7% compared to May 2023. 214,871 electric vehicles were registered from January to May, a decrease of 6.7% compared to the same period last year.

29,755 light and heavy commercial vehicles rolled onto the roads in May, which was 2.1% fewer new registrations than in May last year. In the first five months of the year, 159,310 new commercial vehicles were registered (+10.2 percent).