Car production in Germany rising in October

In October, domestic car production reached 377,700 units. That was 17% more than in the same month last year. In the first ten months, production rose by 1% compared to the same period last year, to just under 3.5mn cars. An additional working day compared to the previous year helped to increase this. However, compared to the pre-crisis year of 2019, production in the first ten months of the current year was 12% lower than in that year.

Exports also rose significantly in the past month: In October, 293,700 brand-new cars were exported from production facilities in Germany, also an increase of 17% compared to the same month last year. Looking at the development since the beginning of the year, there has been an increase of 4% to 2.7mn cars delivered to customers all over the world. But exports after the first ten months of the year are still 9% below the pre-crisis level of 2019.

Compared to the same month last year, 30% more domestic orders were registered in October of this year. In the first ten months, domestic orders increased by 10% compared to the same period last year. The higher-volume foreign order intake in October was 7% above the previous year's level. So far this year, it has increased by almost 2% compared to the same period last year. Overall - domestic and foreign orders combined - almost 3% more orders were registered in the first ten months of this year than in the same period last year.

In October, new registrations on the German passenger car market rose again after three consecutive months of declines. The additional working day compared to the previous year also helped here. Compared to the same month last year, 232,000 new cars were registered in October, 6% more than in the same month last year. From January to October, German registration offices registered a total of just over 2.3mn vehicles. Over the current year, the German passenger car market is therefore still at the same level as last year (±0%). The comparison with pre-crisis levels, however, is still clearly negative: the German passenger car market is currently a good 22% below the volume of Jan-Oct in 2019).

Sales of purely battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) were again below the previous year's figures in October: 35,490 newly registered units correspond to a decrease of 5% compared to the same month last year. Meanwhile, the market for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) recovered in the past month. In October 2024, 19,340 PHEVs were newly registered, 18% more than in October 2023. The electric market as a whole grew by 2% to a level of 54,860 vehicles in the past month. A look at the year so far: While BEV registrations fell by a total of 27% in the first ten months compared to the corresponding period last year, the PHEV market grew by 9%. These contradictory developments resulted in an overall decline in the electric vehicle market of 18% to around 464,200 units from January to October.