Germany’s EV Adoption Increases By 11% In 2023: FMTA Report

A recent report by the Federal Motor Transport Authority (FMTA), a government agency in Germany released new data on the electric vehicles registered in December 2023. The latest report talks about the increased penetration of electric vehicles in the European country. 

The report said, “2,41,883 passenger cars were newly registered in the last month of the old year i.e., 2023. They were found to be 23.0 percent less than December 2022. This takes the annual balance to a total of 2.84 million new cars, which is 7.3 percent more than in 2022. Moreover, 67.1 percent i.e., a 12.4% in new cars that were registered commercially and 32.8 percent with a 1.9% decline in registration of private cars.”

It mentioned, “A total of 5, 24,219 battery electric cars (BEVs) were registered, which constitute a share of 18.4 percent, which marked an increase by 11.4 percent.”

Giving an overall share of vehicle registration, the data mentions, “There is a double-digit gain at MAN (+26.1%/0.1%), Audi (+15.7%/8.7%), Mini (+14.4%/1.6%), Mercedes (+13.7%/9.8%), Porsche (+12.0%/1.2%) and BMW (+11.2%/8.2%). VW (+7.9%/18.2%) and Opel (+0.2%/5.1%) achieved single digit increases in registrations. At Ford (-11.2%/4.1%), however, there was a decline in 2023. With a share of 18.2 percent, VW continued to be the German brand with the largest share in 2023.

It added, “Among the overall registration, 67.1 percent (+12.4%) of new cars were registered commercially and 32.8 percent (-1.9%) privately.  The German brands predominantly recorded increased numbers of new registrations in 2023. Smart recorded the strongest increase of +42.9 percent and a share of 0.6 percent.”

The FMTA showcased, “The annual results reflect a difference in the share of 840,304 hybrid-powered vehicles (+1.6%) achieved a share of 29.5 percent, including 175,724 plug-in hybrids (-51.5%) with a share of 6.2 percent.”

The report indicated an annual increase in imported brands were different, “While GWM (+19,316.7%/0.2%), Lotus (+161.0/0.0%) and Nio (+153.6%/0.0%) showed significant increases, LEVC ( -94.2%/0.0%), Lada (-80.3%/0.0%), Lynk & Co (-65.4%/0.1%), Mitsubishi (-44.8%/ 0.7%), and DS (-39.6%/0.1%) declines of more than 30 percent. The import brands were led in the annual balance sheet by Skoda (+17.1%) with a share of 5.9 percent, followed by Seat (+18.8%) with 4.7 percent.”

Giving an overall view of vehicle registration, it mentioned that “With a share of new registrations of 30.1 percent, SUVs (+10.0%) were the strongest segment in the annual balance sheet, followed by the compact class (16.3%/+10.0%), small cars (11.9%/ +2.6%), the off-road vehicle (11.4%/+8.3%) and the mid-range vehicle (10.5%/+11.1%). The luxury class recorded the largest increase in registrations with an increase of +12.9 percent, its share in the annual balance was 1.0 percent, closely followed by sports cars with +12.7 percent and a share of 1.0 percent. The Mini Vans (-18.1%/0.7%) and Minis (-2.5%/5.0%) segments declined.”

It added, “Commercial vehicles ended 2023 with upward trend, with the increase in new registration of tractors. The showed a total increase of +8.4 percent, including tractor units with +30.1 percent, compared to the same period last year. Trucks increased by +14.5 percent, buses and coaches increased by +12.5 percent and other motor vehicles (motor vehicles) increased by +0.3 percent.”

The motorcycle market experienced a decline of 0.8 percent in 2023 with 222,046 new registrations. A total of 3,476,546 newly registered vehicles brought the new registration balance in 2023 an increase of 7.3 percent. The 272,401 newly registered vehicle trailers resulted in a decrease of 12.6 percent compared to the same period last year.

The annual balance of the used vehicle market closed with 7,024,629 (+5.7%) registered vehicles and 414,785 vehicle trailers (-1.2%). More than 6.03 million cars (+6.9%) changed owners over the course of the year.