As of: January 23, 2024, 6:29 a.m
By: Markus Hofstetter
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The demand for electric cars is stagnating.
Manufacturers are responding by cutting prices.
Stellantis boss Tavares sees this as a threat to the entire industry.
Milan - Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares has warned of a price war among electric car manufacturers.
“If you cut prices while ignoring the reality of costs, it is a race to the bottom that will end in a bloodbath,” the CEO said in the
Financial Times
.
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to avoid.”
Stellantis boss warns of a bloodbath: prices brutally cut, profitability brutally collapsed
Tavares highlighted one manufacturer without naming it.
“I know a company that has brutally cut prices and its profitability has brutally collapsed,” he said.
This probably refers to Tesla, the US car manufacturer has reduced prices several times in the past year in order to stimulate demand, but at the same time has had to accept a decline in profits.
Stellantis boss Carlos Tavares warns of a price war among electric car manufacturers © Reynaud Julien/APS-Medias/ABACA/imago
Tavares emphasized that companies that consistently lose money become “potential consolidation targets.”
He himself did not rule out further takeovers by Stellantis in the future.
Stellantis already owns 14 car brands, including Peugeot, Opel, Chrysler and Fiat.
Electric car sales in Germany: Manufacturers reduce prices
In Germany, several manufacturers have reduced the prices for their electric cars since the state purchase bonus expired in mid-December.
According to a report in the trade magazine
Auto, Motor und Sport,
these include VW, BYD, Dacia, Renault and Fiat.
Tesla then reduced the prices for some models again.
At the end of last year, sales increased despite the sudden stop in funding.
According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), just under 45,000 electric cars were newly registered in November, compared to 54,700 in December.
According to KBA, a total of around 524,000 purely electric cars hit the road in 2023.
That's a good eleven percent more than in 2022. The total number of newly registered cars only rose by around seven percent to 2.84 million.
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Electric cars and car rental companies: Sixt and Herz sell Teslas
However, there are also signs that sales of electric cars may not continue to increase at the current rate.
The German car rental company Sixt has banned Tesla vehicles from its fleet.
The US competitor Hertz is removing around a third of the electric cars from its fleet worldwide.
These are also said to be Teslas.
Instead, cars with combustion engines are being purchased again.