According to a study, buyers of new electric cars in Germany have to dig much deeper into their pockets. According to the survey by the Duisburg CAR Institute on Tuesday, car manufacturers granted fewer discounts on the 30 most important models. Overall, the price reduction in August was 16.2 percent on average, three percentage points below the July level. At the same time, subsidies for the purchase of e-cars will soon be reduced. The researchers criticized that it was a “price shock for electric cars caused by federal politics shortly before the IAA”. The IAA motor show will take place in Munich for the second time next week, with a focus on e-mobility, among other things.
At the turn of the year, the German state will again cut its subsidies for the purchase of electrically powered vehicles. From January 1, 2024, private buyers of smaller e-cars will receive only 3,000 instead of the previous 4,500 euros in “environmental premiums”, i.e. those with a list price of less than 45,000 euros. The subsidy for hybrid vehicles had previously been reduced. Many manufacturers have already included the low subsidy in their current offers because of their long delivery times, says study leader Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, describing the situation. From September 1, 2023, companies will no longer be able to receive an environmental bonus for their new car purchases. The VW Group, among others, is currently still able to deliver certain models within this year under the old and therefore more favorable subsidy conditions.
Tesla may start a new price round
According to Dudenhöffer’s assessment, the US supplier Tesla will soon be heralding a new round of price reductions in order to boost sales. Customers could be happy about that. However, that would in turn lead to a significant drop in profits, especially for German manufacturers if they earned less per vehicle.
Vehicles with a conventional internal combustion engine, on the other hand, are already becoming cheaper. According to the study, the 30 most popular models were offered with an average price reduction of 17.8 percent in August, which is the highest discount in two years. The trend is likely to continue in the coming months, it was said: combustion engines are less and less in demand, the economic data are not very encouraging, reluctance to buy characterizes the picture, the high order backlog at the beginning of the year is “old news”. VW in particular is offering its vehicles at higher discounts.