Dusseldorf The car market in Germany started the year with a decline in sales. According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), 179,247 new cars were registered in January. That was 2.6 percent less than in the same month last year.
While brands such as Porsche, Mercedes, Ford and VW achieved growth, new registrations at the Stellantis subsidiary Opel as well as at Peugeot and Renault fell significantly. With the exception of petrol engines, all drive types were affected by a drop in registrations.
Purely battery-powered vehicles, whose state subsidies had been reduced at the beginning of the year, shrank by 13 percent compared to the same month last year. New registrations of hybrid cars have halved, presumably because their purchase is no longer subsidized.
Immediately before the subsidies were reduced, there was still strong demand for electric vehicles in December 2022. “The boom in December was followed by a deep fall,” summarized Peter Fuss from the management consultancy EY.
Overview: The most popular electric cars in comparison
In a group comparison, US carmaker Tesla posted the strongest sales growth in Germany in January 2023 with 4,241 vehicles. The Californians sold about nine times as many electric cars as in the same month last year, putting them in second place. And this despite the fact that the Tesla Model 3 was hardly registered in January.
The VW Group is at the forefront with 6,146 new registrations for e-cars. Compared to January 2022, this is an increase of around 13 percent.
Mercedes was able to keep new registrations almost stable compared to the same month last year with 2284 vehicles. After all, the Swabians are among the three groups with the most electrical approvals in Germany for the first time.
All other major car companies registered significantly fewer new electric cars in January 2023 than in the same month last year. BMW comes to 884 new registrations – a minus of 56 percent.
Things are looking worse for the big importers: Renault/Nissan electric models were registered 952 times (down 60 percent), Hyundai-Kia had 847 new registrations (down 69 percent), and Stellantis saw the number of new registrations fall by 78 percent to 950 Vehicles.
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Models such as the Fiat 500, which was third in Germany in 2022 as a whole, or the Opel Corsa-e fell out of the list of the ten best-selling models in January.
In any case, the top ten has changed significantly compared to January 2022. Only two models that ended up among the best-selling models in January of the previous year are also represented in January 2023. Some long-standing bestsellers such as the Renault Zoe, the VW E-Up or the Hyundai Kona fall behind in the statistics.
In January 2023, these models took the top spots among e-cars – an overview:
10th place: Mazda MX-30 – 499 new registrations (as of January 2023)*
The Japanese electric car is one of the surprising climbers.
(Photo: imago images/TT)
January starts with a big surprise, because the electric Mazda not only appears in the top ten for the first time. The MX-30 was registered five times more than in all of 2022 combined.
So far, the electric Japanese was considered a slow seller because of its comparatively small battery and thus short range of 237 kilometers. But while almost all competitors are weakening, Mazda seems to have delivered to its customers in the month in which the state purchase premiums were cut.
9th place: Porsche Taycan – 534 new registrations
The electric sports car is too expensive for a government purchase premium.
(Photo: Getty Images; Per-Anders Pettersson)
Buyers of a Porsche Taycan don’t care about the purchase premium, because with a starting price of 88,400 euros there are no state subsidies for the electric sports car. Compared to December, new registrations of the e-Porsche have dropped significantly, but unlike many of its competitors, the model is experiencing stable demand.
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With the 800 volt system, the model has fast charging times and offers a wide range of model variants. While other models suffer from the chip shortage, the Taycan’s well-heeled clientele is also served when semiconductors are scarce.
8th place: Dacia Spring – 669 new registrations
The Romanian electric model is the Renault Group’s best-selling electric car in Germany.
(Photo: imago images/ZUMA Wire)
At the other end of the price scale there is also a bestseller. Because the mini-SUV from the Romanian brand, which is built in China, occupies the segment of inexpensive entry-level electric car models, in which hardly any group currently has anything to offer: Before deducting the purchase premium, the Spring only costs 22,550 euros and is therefore significantly cheaper than most competitors.
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The inexpensive entry into electromobility is obviously popular with customers, even if the engine output is low at 44 hp and the battery only has 27.4 kilowatt hours. Even if the new registrations of the model have fallen by 83 percent compared to December 2022, it is still enough for a top spot in January 2023.
7th place: Smart Fortwo – 721 new registrations
The electric variant of the small car Smart is one of the ten most popular electric cars in Germany.
While many old acquaintances have said goodbye to the top ten, the electric Smart is making a comeback. The microcar, which is now also being built with Chinese help, celebrated a comeback among the bestsellers in January for the first time in months, even if, like most car models, it was registered much less frequently than in December 2022.
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Because Smart is currently no longer relying on small electric cars, but on the #1 compact SUV. After all: In January, Smart regained the top spot as the best-selling electric microcar. The long strong competitor Fiat 500 only had 367 new registrations.
6th place: Skoda Enyaq – 729 new registrations
The Czechs’ first electric model is based on a good compromise between price and range.
(Photo: obs)
Customers sometimes had to wait a long time for the first electric model from the Czech VW sister company. But the buyers are apparently patient. Almost as many Enyaqs were registered in January as in January of the previous year.
With a price of around 42,000 euros and a range of up to 536 kilometers, the Czechs are quite successful in occupying the electric middle class. However, other models from the VW Group were even more successful in January.
5th place: Audi Q4 – 738 new registrations
The electric mid-range model from Audi also made it into the top ten electric cars with the most registrations in Germany.
In January, the premium brother of the VW ID.4 made it into the top ten electric cars with the most registrations in Germany for the first time. For the Audi, too, the number of registered vehicles fell by 66 percent compared to December 2022. But overall, the group manages to deliver its models more steadily.
The electric Audi SUV with a price starting at 51,900 euros is now significantly more expensive than the larger Tesla Model Y – with a range of around 350 kilometers.
4th place: VW ID.3 – 805 new registrations
The electric compact model is currently still a long way from its own claim.
(Photo: imago images/Arnulf Hettrich)
The ID.3 from Wolfsburg should become the Gulf of electric mobility. So far it hasn’t worked properly. There were interruptions in production. The model was also sold more frequently in January of the previous year. Compared to December, when VW brought its model to customers en masse, new registrations fell by around 88 percent.
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Despite the solid start to the year, the ID.3 is still a long way from the market leadership that the Golf has held for years in the combustion engine segment. No wonder VW is redesigning the model just three years after the premiere and could bring the Golf back as an electric car.
3rd place: Audi Q8 – 1131 new registrations
The large electric SUV from Audi got a new name in 2023.
Audi’s first all-electric car has a new name. The large E-SUV, which previously operated under the name E-Tron, will be called the Q8 in the future. With a list price of 83,500 euros, the customer does not get a purchase bonus here either.
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As one of the few models, the Q8 was registered around 68 percent more often than in the same month last year. Hardly any other model from the VW Group was able to grow so strongly.
Expensive cars in particular seem to have been hit much less frequently by the premium shock in January. The Audi leaves competitors such as the Mercedes EQC (222 new registrations) or the BMW iX (149 new registrations) far behind.
2nd place: VW ID.4/ID.5 – 1471 new registrations
After the ID.3, the SUV is the second car from Volkswagen that was designed exclusively as an electric vehicle.
(Photo: dpa)
In China, the medium-sized electric SUV was disappointing last year, and success in Europe was limited. The chip crisis recently burdened production so much that VW dealers could not sell as many vehicles as they wanted. In January, however, the medium-sized electric SUVs were among the big winners in the market.
Even if sales have collapsed compared to the exceptionally strong December: Compared to January 2022, the model was registered significantly more frequently. This makes the ID.4 the electric bestseller in the Wolfsburg brand realm. However, another manufacturer secures the top spot.
1st place: Tesla Model Y – 3708 new registrations
The crossover model will also be built in the new Gigafactory in Grünheide.
(Photo: AP)
The mid-range car is built in the Gigafactory near Berlin and was already the most popular electric car among Germans in 2022. For the new year, Tesla boss Elon Musk increased the pressure on the competition enormously. The prices for the entry-level version of the Model Y were recently reduced by 9100 euros. There were also very favorable leasing offers.
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This should make the Model Y one of the electric cars with the most registrations over the course of the year – despite falling premiums. In January, every fifth newly registered electric car in Germany was a Model Y.
*Source: Kraftfahrt–federal office
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