Strong growth in vehicles with "H” registration plates
Historic vehicles: VDA presents detailed evaluation of Federal Motor Transport Authority statistics
Berlin, 17 August 2010. The German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) has commissioned its first detailed evaluation of vehicles with registration plates bearing the letter "H” by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). German legislation provides "H-plates” for historic vehicles that are at least 30 years old.
The number of vehicles with H-plates has risen continually over recent years. Owing to the increasing popularity of historic vehicles, in the last five years the number of automobiles with these registrations has risen by more than one third (+37 per cent) to around 210,000 vehicles. Nine out of ten of them are passenger cars (188,360). Then there are 7,691 motorcycles, 6,553 commercial vehicles, 5,470 tractors and 1,880 other vehicles.
The most popular brand in the largest group (passenger cars) is Mercedes-Benz, with 43,839 cars (23.3 percent). It is followed by Volkswagen with 34,970 (18.6 per cent), Opel with 15,125 (7.2 per cent), Ford with 9,909 (4.7 per cent) and Porsche with 9,465 (4.5 per cent).
The VW "Beetle” easily tops the ranking of individual models with H-plates, at 23,380 vehicles. It is followed at some distance by three series by Mercedes-Benz. The 6,094 vehicles from the 114/115 series (lovingly called "Stroke Eight” by historic-vehicle lovers), and 4,843 vehicles from the 110/111 ("Tailfin”) series, demonstrate that not only luxury cars and sports cars enjoy cult status today. They are followed by the Mercedes "SL” from the 107 series at 4,550 units, and the Porsche 911/912 at 3,949 units.
Predictably, German brands lead among passenger cars bearing plates with the letter H. Almost two thirds of these vehicles (122,844 units) were built by German manufacturers. Second place goes to classic cars from England, at 26,368 vehicles (14.0 per cent), followed by the US manufacturers with 13,366 passenger cars (7.1 per cent).
Historic vehicle plates were introduced in Germany in 1997 to protect vehicles of cultural value. To qualify for H-plates, the vehicle must be at least 30 years old, and must be in its original condition (i.e. with no major alterations) and well maintained. Vehicles bearing H-plates are subject to a flat-rate vehicle tax of EUR 191.73. Furthermore, the vehicles are allowed to enter environmental protection zones.
The statistics also revealed that not all vehicles over 30 years old bear "historic” plates. Only 56.4 per cent of vehicles older than 30 use them. Often the owners are put off by the work involved in registering a historic vehicle, or else do not want to pay the flat-rate tax, which works out to be relatively high for vehicles with small engines.
H-plates are therefore going to be promoted more heavily in the future. VDA Managing Director Hans-Georg Frischkorn commented: "The H-plates are the visible symbol of all truly classic cars. The ‘H’ stands for ‘historic vehicle,’ denoting a piece of automotive cultural history. Historic vehicles are also especially popular because people often associate them with very special personal memories. In addition, they are ‘mobile evidence’ of 124 years of successful German automobile history. For this reason, too, these automotive ‘treasures’ should be protected and cared for.”
