Significantly fewer new cars were registered in Germany in 2020.
Instead of petrol and diesel, electric cars scored points.
But the charging infrastructure in particular remains the challenge.
Flensburg - Economically, 2020 was a difficult year for many.
Also for the car market in Germany.
It fell by almost a fifth last year.
As the
Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) announced
on Friday, a total of 2.9 million
new cars were
registered
in 2020
- 19.1 percent less than in 2019. However, there was significant growth in the past year for
electric cars
: their share of all new registrations rose with it a total of around 194,000 vehicles to 6.7 percent after just under 1.8 percent in the previous year.
In addition,
vehicles with hybrid drive
achieved a share of 18.1 percent with a total of almost 528,000 new registrations in 2020 - including around 200,000 plug-in hybrids.
Compared to the previous year, new registrations of plug-in hybrids increased by 342 percent,
new electric car registrations
tripled (plus 207 percent).
German car market: Federal funding makes electric cars particularly attractive
Increasing the
promotion of
electric cars
Due to the federal government from 3,000 to 6,000 euros, the price is currently very attractive and leads to an enormous increase in interest, explained the automotive market expert at the consulting company EY, Peter Fuß, and also referred to new models from the manufacturers.
In the new year, they would have “an even greater interest” in bringing large numbers of electrified models to the road in order to
comply with
CO2 requirements
and avoid fines.
Now it remains to be hoped that “the expansion of the
charging infrastructure will also
progress to the same extent”.
Car expert Stefan Bratzel from the Center of Automotive Management (CAM) in Bergisch Gladbach said that in 2020 Germany had "become the second largest single market for
electromobility
worldwide thanks to funding
".
The Federal Republic could “increasingly develop a pacemaker function for the new form of drive”.
What is critical, however, is that more than 50 percent of the high e-car registrations are based on
plug-in hybrids
, "which only make ecological sense with certain driving profiles and with regular charging," explained Bratzel.
New cars: further growth in electric mobility expected in the coming years
In a current forecast, the CAM is now assuming further growth in electromobility over the next few years.
By 2025, the annual new registrations of
electric vehicles would increase
to around 900,000, which would then correspond to a share of 27 percent of
new sales
.
It is assumed that the vast majority of around 65 percent will be purely electric vehicles.
“The
charging infrastructure *
remains a major challenge, as it
could slow down the acceptance of e-vehicles and the future market ramp-up,” Bratzel also pointed out.
New registrations of
gasoline and diesel cars fell
significantly in 2020
- although they still make up the bulk of the
new car market
: gasoline-powered cars fell by 36.3 percent to 1.36 million new registrations, diesel cars by 28.9 percent to just under 820,000.
Significantly fewer new cars registered in 2020 - bad for the economy, bad for the climate too?
The
Association of the Automotive Industry
(VDA) described the drop in sales for the year as a whole as "not only economically difficult for the automotive industry, but also bad for the
carbon footprint
".
Because this would delay the renewal of the car fleet, older cars would stay on the streets longer.
"We expect the German car market to recover in 2021," said VDA President Hildegard Müller.
"Nevertheless, the very strong pre-Corona level should not be reached for the time being."
The # Corona year 2020: domestic car market shrank by 19% 📉 sales slump also bad for climate balance.
December strong with 311,400 new registrations (+ 10%): Many customers bought 🚗 in December in order to benefit from the lower VAT rate.
https://t.co/mL32NPOj8A pic.twitter.com/N9QLBc842Y
- VDA (@VDA_online) January 8, 2021
In December 2020,
however,
new registrations increased
regardless of the new restrictions in the fight against the
corona pandemic
and, at a good 311,000 vehicles, were 9.9 percent above the level of the previous month.
The VDA spoke of the "highest approval volume ever achieved in a December" - despite the
lockdown
in the second half of the month.
Two additional working days and the expiry of the VAT reduction at the end of the year had a major impact on the market development in December.
(AFP / cibo) * Merkur.de is part of the Ippen-Digital network.