German car market starts year-end rally: For the first time, more than 100,000 e-cars were newly registered in one month

The German passenger car market is making a dynamic start to the year-end spurt. In November, 260,500 new registrations were registered in Germany, 31% more than in the same month last year. Thus a total of a good 2.3mn passenger cars were newly registered in the first eleven months. Due to the significant growth rates of the past few months, over the course of the year the figure is only 2% below the level of the previous year. However, the pre-crisis level remains a long way off: In the first eleven months of the current year, around 30% fewer cars were newly registered than in the same period of the pre-crisis year 2019. Above all, the lack of primary and intermediate products and the high energy and raw material prices continue to have a dampening effect on the market and production.

New registrations of electric cars increased significantly in November – plus 50% compared to the same month last year – and reached a volume of 102,600 units. For the first time ever, more than 100,000 e-cars were sold in one month. The share of electric cars in total registrations rose to 39.4% in November – also a new record.

New registrations of purely battery-electric passenger cars (BEV) rose by 44% compared to the same month last year, and those of plug-in hybrids (PHEV) even by 60% compared to the same month last year. A total of around 659,200 electric cars have been registered since the beginning of the year. The sales are thus 10% above the same period of the previous year.

Incoming orders from Germany again fell significantly in November compared to the same month of the previous year: 37% fewer orders were registered. Since the beginning of the year, 13% fewer orders have been received from Germany than in the same period in 2021. Orders received from abroad also fell in November, albeit much less strongly: they fell by a good 2% compared to the same month last year. In the first eleven months of the current year, a total of 7% fewer orders from customers from abroad were registered than in the same period of the previous year.

November is the seventh month in a row in which the production level is above that of the respective month of the previous year. The German manufacturers produced 385,700 cars. This corresponds to an increase of 25% compared to the same month last year. Almost 3.2mn passenger cars have been produced in Germany since the beginning of the year, 12% more than in the months from January to November of the previous year. Despite the high growth rates of the past few months, the production volume is still at a comparatively low level: in the current year the production figures from the pre-COVID year 2019 are still well undercut by a good 28%.

With 280,100 new vehicles exported, passenger car exports increased by 26% compared to the previous year's level. From January to November, 2.4mn brand-new cars were exported. That is around 11% more than in the same period of the previous year. Compared to the first ten months of the pre-crisis year 2019, there is a deficit of 28%.