March: Production and market declining

In Germany, 241,330 passenger cars were newly registered in March – 17% fewer than in the same month last year. After the first quarter of 2022, there are 626,000 new vehicles (–5%) on the books. Compared to 2019, the decrease in the first three months is 29%. The lack of primary products in production also has a dampening effect.

New electric vehicle registrations fell by 6% to 61,800 units in March. The share of electric cars in all new registrations last month was 25.6%. New registrations of purely battery-electric passenger cars (BEV) increased by 15% while those of plug-in hybrids (PHEV) fell by 23%. A total of 151,500 electric cars were registered in the first quarter, 6% more than in the same period of the previous year.

Domestic order intake grew in March and was 6% up on the same month last year. In the first quarter, 22% more orders were received. Incoming orders from abroad, on the other hand, declined: German manufacturers booked 20% fewer orders than in the previous year, and since January there have been 11% fewer orders from customers from abroad.

Car production in Germany fell sharply in the past month. This was also influenced for the first time by the war of aggression in Ukraine initiated by the Russian Federation. In March, German manufacturers produced 267,600 cars (–29%). Since the beginning of the year, 829,100 cars have been produced in Germany, 12% fewer than in the previous year. With 200,200 new vehicles exported, exports were 35% below the previous year's level. Over the course of the year, exports were also down 15%, well below the level of the previous year.

Correction of the production forecast for 2022

Concerning the current developments, the VDA has revised its production forecast for 2022 downwards. Instead of +13%, domestic production is currently only expected to be increasing by +7% to 3.3 million cars. Foreign production has been revised to +2% and 9.6 million units, previously it was +5%.

"These adjustments are a first reaction to the war in Ukraine and its consequences for supply chains and the global economy. There are extremely dynamic circumstances, in particular the possible expansion of sanctions against Russia and additional factors of uncertainty, such as possible production losses in China as a result of the zero-Covid strategy. This could lead to further adjustments to the forecasts in the coming months," VDA President Hildegard Müller explained.