New car registrations in Germany have again increased significantly. The greatest growth is in electric cars. At the same time, the mood among automakers is worse than it has been since 2008.
The number of newly registered cars increased significantly in June. A total of 280,139 vehicles were registered – an increase of 24.8 percent compared to the same month last year, as reported by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA).
The increase in new commercial registrations, which increased by 34.4 percent, was particularly strong. Private new registrations increased by 7.2 percent compared to the same month last year.
Electric cars with the strongest increase
The strongest growth was therefore in electric cars. Their sales increased by 64.4 percent to 53,000 vehicles. The market share climbed to 18.9 percent – which is one and a half points more than in May.
Gasoline engines increased by a fifth. At around 35.6 percent, they continue to have the largest share of new registrations. Diesel cars were also in greater demand again: their share was 16.7 percent. Since the beginning of the year, new registrations have increased by 13 percent to around 1.4 million vehicles.
Manufacturers ramp up production
In parallel to the increased demand, German car manufacturers significantly increased their production in the first half of 2023. From the beginning of January to the end of June, a good 2.2 million cars rolled off the assembly lines, according to the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) – an increase of 32 percent compared to the same period last year.
The reason for this is “primarily the efforts to relax the supply chains,” said VDA President Hildegard Müller. The manufacturers also benefited from the high order backlog, which had built up last year due to the lack of components. However, it is to be expected that the high growth rates will soon weaken and the high order backlog will slowly be reduced.
However, the car manufacturers in Germany have not yet been able to reach production figures like they were in the time before the corona pandemic. The figures for the current year are 10 percent below those of the first half of 2019.
Evaluate car manufacturers business prospects negative
Despite the positive trend in new registrations and the increased production, German car manufacturers rate their business prospects more negatively than they have since the global financial crisis in 2008. This is the result of an ifo survey. The corresponding indicator collapsed to minus 56.9 points in June, after a minus of 10.3 points in May, as the Munich Institute announced today in its survey. This is the fifth decline in a row.
The current business situation, on the other hand, was rated better: This barometer rose to 37.5 points after it had been 28.4 points in May. “There is great uncertainty among car manufacturers, as at the beginning of the war in Ukraine or when the risk of gas rationing for industry increased significantly in the fall,” said Oliver Falck, head of the ifo Center for Industrial Organization and New Technologies.
price increases planned
Regardless of the bleak prospects, car manufacturers are planning to push through higher prices. “The price increases would primarily affect the premium segment and electric cars,” said ifo expert Falck.
The suppliers rated their current business situation worse. The reading fell to 32.6 points from 41.3 in May. “There is a lack of demand from abroad among the suppliers,” said Falck. There is also a lack of confidence for the coming months: the barometer for business expectations fell to minus 32.1 points after minus 20.3 in May.