Dusseldorf After months of declining car registrations, there is apparently a first glimmer of hope in Germany. In August, new registrations increased by three percent to almost 200,000, as reported by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).
The reason for the slight increase is probably not a trend reversal, but rather the fact that the same month last year was particularly weak. In addition, the past month had one more working day. However, little has changed in terms of the problems the industry is suffering from. On the contrary, the gas crisis and fears of recession have added to the difficulties.
The semiconductor shortage has eased somewhat, but inflation is making things difficult for the carmaker. According to the KBA, new registrations fell by almost ten percent to 1.64 million vehicles in the first eight months.
Despite numerous new models, sales of electric cars are not increasing as strongly as in previous years – but, unlike the market, are still growing. In August alone, around 32,000 electric cars were newly registered – around eleven percent more than in the same month last year. And calculated for the year as a whole, the plus is 12.3 percent. The proportion of new electric vehicle registrations in Germany has increased from around 11 to 14 percent.
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Many electric cars are currently hardly available due to the lack of chips, buyers usually have to wait several months or even years.
Overview: The most popular electric cars in comparison
From a group perspective, Tesla fell back to fourth place in the German electronics market in the first eight months of the year with 24,734 new registrations – behind the Volkswagen Group (58,195 new registrations), Stellantis (41,786 new registrations) and Hyundai-Kia (25,030 new registrations). The German premium manufacturers BMW (21,218 new registrations) and Mercedes (20,094 new registrations) land behind them.
>> Read also: Cheap electric cars 2022: These ten electric cars are available at low prices
A number of electric bestsellers from the past few years fought their way back into the top ten in August: for example the VW E-Up, which has long been a discontinued model. The electric Mini, the Renault Zoe and the electric Smart are no longer among the top ten most registered e-cars. The premium brands Mercedes and Audi do not make it into the leaderboard – despite numerous electric models.
10th place: VW E-Up – 7700 new registrations (as of August 2022)*
The small electric car was sold again at the beginning of the year in a strictly limited edition. The model has long been on the hit list. Actually, the small electric car should be discontinued. A successor is not expected until 2025.
But the discontinued model still has many fans. 919 new registrations for the electric Up in August put the model back among the ten most registered electric cars in 2022. This means that the small car comes closer to the ID.3 than many expected.
9th place: Skoda Enyaq – 7701 new registrations
The electric crossover model continues to hold its ground in the top ten.
(Photo: obs)
The electric crossover SUV is in great demand. Because technically the model shares a platform with the more expensive VW ID.4 and ID.5. If you order a new electric Skoda today, you have to wait up to 18 months.
Due to ongoing delivery problems, the model’s approval data fluctuate accordingly. With 940 new registrations in August, the model can defend its place in the ranking, even if sales are slightly lower than in July.
8th place: BMW i3 – 8039 new registrations
So far in 2022, the i3 has been by far BMW’s most-registered electric car.
(Photo: dpa)
Since 2013, the group has sold almost a quarter of a million units of the electric car. In the future, BMW will rely on the electric Mini, the iX or the i4. Production of the electric bestseller was discontinued in June.
In the course of 2022, however, the i3 is still the most popular electric car from the brand and also leaves the fresh models behind. The BMW i3 was newly registered 1262 times in August. The iX ended up behind with 215 new registrations, as did the iX3 (343 new registrations). Compared to the previous year, the registrations of the i3 could even increase again. The last model year seems to be the most successful.
7th place: VW ID.3 – 8956 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 out properly, there were problems in production.
But a comparison with the previous year shows how big the problems at VW still are: In the first eight months of 2021, the ID.3 was newly registered in Germany 18,845 times – more than twice as often as from January to August 2022.
The ID.3 is still a long way from the market leadership that the Golf held for years in the combustion engine segment. After all: With 1489 new registrations in August, the model makes up a little ground.
6th place – Opel Corsa-e – 8978 new registrations
The small Stromer from Rüsselsheim was still the most popular electric car in Germany in May.
(Photo: imago images/Sebastian Geisler)
The small Stromer, which is built in Zaragoza, was still number two among electric cars in Germany in January. In March, the model then flew out of the top ten due to persistent delivery problems. Since then, however, sales of the electric Corsa have been very stable again.
The KBA registered 1041 new registrations in August. That’s less than last month, but enough to defend its position in the market. Every fourth Corsa buyer now opts for the electric version.
5th place: Hyundai Kona – 9577 new registrations
Short delivery times, cheap leasing. This also makes the Kona interesting for many German drivers.
(Photo: Reuters)
The Hyundai electric model is the big loser in August. The compact SUV slipped two places in the industry comparison. The electric variant now accounts for more than half of the new compact SUV registrations. In 2021, the Korean model was revised somewhat, but the technical basis comes from 2018.
In August, new registrations fell significantly compared to the previous month. 833 copies were newly registered. In an industry comparison, the model takes fifth place – and Hyundai was within striking distance of Tesla and VW for a long time. In the previous year, the Kona had already registered 12,431 new registrations in the first eight months – that is significantly more.
4th place: VW ID.4 / ID.5 – 10,229 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 is currently still manageable.
The chip crisis recently put such a strain on production that VW even had to impose an electrical quota on its dealers. Only large dealers will receive a significant number of e-vehicles for 2022.
In August, the model delivered quite solid numbers. 1601 copies of the mid-size SUV ID.4 and the coupé variant ID.5 were registered in Germany, something as many as in July. The ID.4 and the coupe variant ID.5 will thus form the most popular electric series in the VW Group in the first half of 2022.
3rd place: Tesla Model 3 – 12,023 new registrations
The Model 3 was hardly registered recently.
(Photo: dpa)
After two disappointing months, Tesla’s mid-range model is regaining momentum. far from the top ten. The first mass model from California was registered 1,075 times in August; in July there were only 147 new registrations. In the previous year, there were almost three times as many Model 3s that rolled onto German roads.
Because so far Tesla has been importing the car from the Chinese plant in Shanghai, which can hardly export due to the lockdown and the chaos at the Chinese ports. That costs Tesla the crown in the German electrical market.
2nd place: Tesla Model Y – 12,709 new registrations
The crossover model will also be built in the new Gigafactory in Grünheide.
(Photo: AP)
The middle-class crossover is to be built immediately in the Gigafactory near Berlin, which opened this year. But most recently, Elon Musk complained that the Grünheide plant was primarily burning money. To speed up the construction of the Model Y, production there was stopped for two weeks and rebuilt.
Apparently it was worth it. In August, the Californian crossover model was the best-selling electric car in the German market: 4,261 vehicles were newly registered by the Federal Motor Transport Authority – in the previous month there were twice as many. The model thus makes up three places in the ranking.
1st place: Fiat 500 – 14,975 new registrations
The small electric car from Italy is one of the most popular electric cars in Germany.
(Photo: Fiat)
The electric Fiat 500 was the most popular electric car among Germans in July and in the first eight months of 2022.
The new edition of the little Italian was registered a total of 1527 times in the past month. Significantly less than in the previous month – but that’s enough to defend the lead in the ranking. More than every second Fiat 500 newly registered in Germany drives electrically – although the electric variant is significantly more expensive.
For the Franco-Italian group Stellantis, this is more than a respectable success: the most popular model in the growing German electronics market – ahead of VW and Tesla.
*As of August 2022, source: Kraftfahrt–federal office
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