A total of 524,219 new battery electric vehicles hit the roads. This was an increase of 11.4 percent, as the Federal Motor Transport Authority announced on Tuesday. Last year, the number of new registrations had risen by 30 percent. An important factor here was the state subsidy for car purchases. The purchase premium was recently canceled. The market share of purely electric cars climbed from 17.7 percent to 18.4 percent. "The ramp-up of electromobility is stalling, many potential customers are taking a wait-and-see approach," explained Constantin Gall, automotive expert at management consultancy EY.

After growth last year was weaker than expected in the industry, the prospects for 2024 are also "rather meagre", added Gall. In addition to customer reluctance in the face of high car prices and a lack of charging options, the sudden end of the e-car subsidy is further complicating the situation. "The discontinuation of the subsidy will lead to a significant drop in buying interest and an overall decline in sales figures for electric cars in 2024."

Volkswagen overtook US car manufacturer Tesla as the leading e-car brand in 2023 with 70,628 new cars, an increase of almost twelve percent. Tesla, on the other hand, lost nine percent with 63,685 new registrations, although the Americans' Model Y was the most popular model ahead of VW's IDs. The three German car manufacturers VW, BMW and Mercedes-Benz achieved above-average growth of 32 percent, bringing their market share to 46 percent from 38 percent.

Suppliers from China, which are expected to achieve strong growth, accounted for 5.5 percent of e-cars and just under eight percent including hybrid models. According to EY, their share has doubled compared to 2022. The Chinese have not yet emerged as price breakers, but they are putting increasing pressure on established manufacturers. The most successful of these was the MG Roewe brand, which belongs to VW partner SAIC, which put 18,526 new cars on the road.

(Report by Ilona Wissenbach. Edited by Olaf Brenner. If you have any queries, please contact the editorial team at frankfurt.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com)