Despite high fuel prices: "Customers want to drive diesel"
Created: 04/04/2022Updated: 04/04/2022, 19:11
By: Jonas Napiletzki
Bastian Schmid from the car dealership of the same name in Miesbach sells classic petrol engines such as the Fiat 500 or the Panda.
He says that nobody is switching to electric cars just because of the high fuel prices.
© Thomas Plettenberg
The high fuel prices could drive drivers to cheaper types of drive.
Currently, however, they do not (yet) influence purchasing behavior in a Miesbach car dealership.
Miesbach – While fuel prices are apparently stagnating at their record high, the Federal Motor Transport Authority is publishing surprising statistics.
In the newly registered vehicles from January to February, the proportion of cars powered by liquid gas has increased by 429.5 percent - nationwide and compared to the same period last year.
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) - not to be confused with natural gas - is cheaper than diesel and petrol, but is more of a niche fuel.
In the district of Miesbach, 266 gas cars were registered last year – out of a total of 86,148 motor vehicles.
Are the drivers in Miesbach following the statistical nationwide trend and are they increasingly turning to gas as a cheaper fuel?
"No," says Bastian Schmid from the car dealership of the same name in Miesbach.
"I know my customers - and they would love to drive diesel."
Gas cars cannot be ordered from Fiat in Miesbach
He can no longer order gas cars for his Jeep and Fiat brands anyway, because the group's sales figures are probably too low for production to be worthwhile.
This statement is also confirmed by the figures from the registration office in the district office of Miesbach.
In percentage terms, the number of registrations of vehicles powered by LPG increased by 300 percent here as well.
In absolute numbers, however, this only corresponds to an increase to three cars compared to a single registered gas car in 2021 from January to February - a negligible value.
Instead, contrary to the nationwide statistics, petrol and diesel cars increased from 200 to 285 and 133 to 184 registrations.
Hybrid electric car registrations doubled to 50 in January and February 2022, closer to the 42.2 percent of the nationwide statistic.
Schmid explains the increase in electric and petrol engines as being driven by corporations and politics.
Self-igniters are in demand with him, but can no longer be ordered.
The increase in electric car registrations, on the other hand, can be explained by the remaining supply.
"I can't sell what doesn't exist," says the man from Miesbach.
And small electric cars like the Fiat 500e currently have the shortest delivery time and are therefore best positioned.
“The demand for e-cars cannot be broken down into fuel prices”
For example, gas cars have been removed from the product range due to supply bottlenecks.
"At the moment, the group prefers to produce cars that it can definitely sell." These are still petrol engines, which in turn explains the statistical increase in registrations in this segment.
The bottlenecks in production already existed last year (we reported) and would now continue.
"Many orders are a lottery game in terms of delivery time," says Schmid.
Strong bottlenecks in semiconductor production continue to be responsible for this.
This also affects the configuration options for new cars: "We cannot currently offer any parking sensors because the control units required for them cannot be produced," says Schmid.
However, he does not see a switch to cheaper fuels: "The demand for electric cars cannot be broken down into fuel prices." That has nothing to do with customer wishes - but with state subsidies and the production of the car manufacturers.
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