As of: February 15, 2024, 9:59 a.m
By: Robert Wallenhauer
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German car manufacturers are facing increasing competition from abroad.
Almost all electric car manufacturers are now offering discounts.
This has positive effects for consumers.
Munich - Electric cars are much more expensive than combustion engines.
This prejudice persists - but is no longer true across the board.
For many models, the following now applies: “Anyone who can afford a new car can afford an electric car.” This is the conclusion of an analysis by
Wirtschaftswoche (WiWo)
.
What top politicians like Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) called for last year at the IAA motor show and Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) in TV talk sessions - electric cars that are affordable for the masses - now seems to have become a reality.
This is due to several factors that have recently changed the market for electric cars.
The purchase bonus for electric cars expired early in December 2023.
Car manufacturers are now giving big discounts on their cars themselves.
The fully-fledged small electric vehicle Dacia Spring is now available at a price of around 12,000 euros.
The larger Skoda Enyaq car is available for a leasing rate starting at 260 euros - in the same price segment you can only get the smaller VW Golf in the combustion engine, reports
WiWo
.
Even at traditional companies like BMW, customers can now hope for discounts of up to 23 percent, writes the business magazine.
E-car charging: Electric vehicles are no longer unaffordable.
© Daniel Bockwoldt/dpa
Discounts from electric car manufacturers
One reason for the sometimes high price discounts is the changed situation on the market.
Especially during the Corona crisis, VW, Tesla, BMW and Co. were able to produce fewer cars than were in demand.
That drove prices up.
The situation has now returned to normal - which is why manufacturers are offering discounts.
The price pressure is increased by Tesla and Chinese manufacturers such as MG and BYD.
They want to secure market share in Germany and entice customers with discounts, switching bonuses and price reductions, some of which are higher than the environmental bonus.
“The e-car market is like a cauldron!
Anyone who does not start reducing prices has a high risk of losing market share,” says a report from the Car Institute Duisburg.
The evaluation also finds that the market for combustion engines is also moving in the interests of consumers.
Prices for used electric cars are falling significantly
The prices for used electric cars have also fallen significantly recently.
This was the result of an evaluation by the Autoscout24 portal.
The average price in 2023 was 36,703 euros, well below the high of 2022 of 44,000 euros.
The offer has also increased significantly - on Autoscout24 alone it has tripled from 2021 to 2023.
With the current falling prices of new cars, this effect could be further intensified.
The more discounted new cars come onto the market, the more price competition should drive down prices on the used car market.
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In 2023, used combustion engines were still cheaper on average, according to the online car market: Autoscout24 calculated an average price of 29,631 euros for diesel vehicles last year, and 26,281 euros for gasoline vehicles.
Newer electric car models - even as used cars - are still a “reliable choice,” battery specialist Maximilian Fichtner, head of the Helmholtz Institute for Electrochemical Energy Storage in Ulm, is quoted by the platform.
Buying a used electric car can work just as well as buying a used combustion engine.
“Cars like Tesla models from 2017 are good examples.
Many sold used in 2021 still have more than 95 percent of their battery capacity.”
Electric cars without risk - leasing is an option
Despite falling prices for new electric cars, consumers may remain uncertain because: Who knows whether today's electric cars will not be completely obsolete in a few years?
The industry has been researching successor technologies for the currently common lithium-ion battery for a long time.
The big disadvantage of lithium is that global reserves are limited, mining is expensive and hardly environmentally friendly.
According to the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), the batteries currently also require cobalt and nickel.
These are also metals that are mined under problematic conditions and are highly toxic.
So what if there are soon serious advances in battery technology and the current generation of electric cars no longer finds buyers on the used car market?
Consumers could avoid this problem with leasing contracts.
In Germany there are still no plans for subsidized “social leasing” as in France.
Nevertheless, providers in this country also entice customers with attractive leasing rates.
According to the comparison portal leasingkostencheck.de, for example, the small car Dacia Spring is available from 99 euros per month, the BMW i3 from 245 euros per month, the Skoda Anyaq from 203 euros or the Tesla Model 3 from 499 euros per month.
(with material from dpa and AFP)