New car registrations in July again down, production and exports continue to grow

In Germany, 205,900 passenger cars were newly registered in July, 13% fewer than in July last year. A total of 1.4 million new vehicles were registered in the first seven months of the current year, which is a good 11% less than in the same period last year. Compared to the pre- COVID19 year 2019, there is a sales deficit of 34% in the current year. This corresponds to 737,900 units. The lack of primary and intermediate products, high raw material prices and general uncertainty due to the ongoing war in Ukraine are still dampening the market and production.

New registrations of electric vehicles fell by a good 5% to 52,600 units in July compared to the same month last year. The share of electric cars in all new registrations was 25.5% in the past month. New registrations of purely battery-electric passenger cars (BEV) rose by 13% compared to the same month last year, while new registrations of plug-in hybrids (PHEV) fell by 21%. A total of 359,000 electric cars have been registered since the beginning of the year. That is 2% less than in the same period of the previous year. This means that the market for electric cars has developed better than the car market as a whole so far this year.

Domestic order intake also fell in July and was 32% below the same month last year. Since the beginning of the year, 1% fewer orders have been received than in the same period of the previous year. Foreign orders increased for the first time since June 2021. There was an increase of 3% compared to the same month last year. However, looking at the first seven months of the current year, German manufacturers received a total of 12% fewer orders from customers from abroad.

Car production in Germany rose for the third month in a row in July: German manufacturers produced 263,400 cars (+7%). Since the beginning of the year, 1.9mn passenger cars have been produced in Germany, 2% less than in the months from January to July of the previous year. The production level from the pre- COVID19 year 2019 is still a long way off and has fallen by 32% in the current year.

With 209,600 new vehicles exported in July this year, exports were 18% above the weak level of the previous year. Almost 1.5mn brand-new cars were exported over the course of the year. That is 3% less than in the previous year. The pre-COVID19 level of 2019 is being undercut by 31%.