"Since the end of the incentive program, "German" e-cars have been sold at high discounts, otherwise BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes would not enter the market": reiterating a report made earlier this week, the German economic daily Handelsblatt (Hb) underlines this, referring to the ephemeral season of public subsidies for electric cars which the left-centre government in Berlin had to revoke at the end of 2023 to deal with the budget hole opened in October by a constitutional court ruling.
"Market leader Volkswagen is offering discounts of up to 7,700 euros on its ID.4 and ID.5 models, while Renault's low-cost supplier Dacia is reducing its prices by 10,000 euros," the newspaper said on Friday.
"Prices are also collapsing in the premium electric segment. The battle against discounts launched by Tesla is also putting pressure on Mercedes, BMW and Audi."
The phenomenon is explained by Hb, not only with the end of subsidies, but also with the structural limits that still denote the e-car sector in terms of charging.
All this while the now established European abandonment of cars with combustion engines is also imposing an "unprecedented transformation" on the German automotive industry which is producing notable effects, for example at BMW and Audi.
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