German passenger car market 2022: Slightly above previous year's level

At the end of the year, the car market in Germany again grew significantly: In December, 314,300 cars were newly registered in Germany. That’s 38% more than in the same month last year. In 2022 as a whole, 2.7mn passenger cars were newly registered, 1% more than in the previous year. The lack of primary and intermediate products, the high energy and raw material prices and the general uncertainty due to the war in Ukraine had dampened the market and production considerably throughout the year, but especially in the first half of the year. Therefore significant declines were recorded in spring and summer of 2022. Compared to the pre-crisis year 2019, there will be a significant sales gap of around 26% in 2022.

New electric car registrations in December 2022 increased by a good 114% compared to the same month last year and reached a volume of 174,200 units - a new record on the German market: Never before more e-cars have been registered in one month. The development suggests that purchases have been brought forward: State subsidies for plug-in hybrids (PHEV) expired at the end of 2022, and those for purely battery-electric passenger cars (BEV) were reduced. The share of e-cars in total registrations rose to 55.4% in December. For the first time, e-cars accounted for more than half of all new registrations on the German market. New registrations of BEVs rose by 115% in December compared to the same month last year. BEVs accounted for 59.9% of e-registrations. PHEV were able to increase by 113% in December compared to the same month last year and account for 40.1% of e-registrations. A total of around 833,500 e-cars were registered in 2022 as a whole. That is 22% more than in the previous year. The e-share of all registrations in 2022 will be 31.4%. That means: Almost every third new registration in 2022 has been an e-car. BEV will account for 56.5% of e-registrations in 2022, PHEV for 43.4%.

In December, German manufacturers again received significantly fewer domestic orders than in the same month last year (-36%). Compared to 2021, domestic orders fell by 15% in 2022 as a whole. Foreign orders in December were at the previous year's level (±0%). In 2022 as a whole, the order volume from abroad was 6% down on the previous year.

The production level in December was above that of the same month of the previous year for the eighth time in succession. With 253,700 cars, the German manufacturers produced a good 2% more cars than in December of the previous year. In 2022 as a whole, 3.4mn vehicles were produced in Germany, almost 11% more than in 2021. Despite the consistent growth of the past few months, the production volume is still at a comparatively low level: in 2022, the production figures from the pre-COVID year 2019 were significantly undercut by a good 26%.

Exports developed similarly to production: in December, 202,500 cars made in Germany were delivered to customers all over the world, 1% more than in December 2021. A total of 2.6mn cars were exported in 2022. That’s 10% more than in the previous year. However, the level of the pre-crisis year 2019 is still undercut by a good 25%.