German car sales plunge in August as electric car sales decline deepens

Electric vehicle registrations fell 69%, with overall sales down 28%, especially for Tesla

public Executives this week defended plans to close two plants by telling angry workers that the auto market was in a slump.Demand is unlikely to return to pre-coronavirus levels. The downturn is most pronounced in Germany, new data show.

Data from Germany’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt – KBA) showed that total passenger car sales fell 28% in August compared with the same period last year.

Related: Subsidy cuts cause German electric car sales to plummet 37%

German brands all saw sharp declines, including Mini (down 45%), Audi (down 37%), BMW (down 23%) and Mercedes (down 16%). Although Volkswagen retained its position as the brand with the largest market share (18%), its sales fell by 23%.

But the KBA’s figures paint a bleaker picture for the electric vehicle market. Electric vehicle registrations rose 12.7% between January and August, but that success was achieved in early 2024. Electric vehicle sales plunged 69% in August, after falling 37% in July and 16% in June, partly due to cuts in electric vehicle subsidies.

Tesla fared particularly badly, with registrations down 66% in August this year compared to August 2023, and a 45% drop in the January-August period. The US automaker’s Model Y SUV was Europe’s best-selling powertrain last year, but demand has fallen sharply and it is unlikely to repeat that achievement in 2024.

While electric car sales plunged by more than two-thirds, petrol car registrations fell just 7% in August, suggesting consumers are increasingly turning to the internal combustion engines they know, trust and can afford, rather than splashing out on more modern electric cars. Hybrid car sales were barely affected, falling just 1.5%, though plug-in hybrids fell 7% and even diesel car sales (down 24%) were not as badly affected as electric cars.

However, the latest decline in KBA data is not bad news for the German auto market. Peugeot’s sales in August increased by 17%, and from January to August increased by 36%, while Volvo’s registrations increased by 19% and 55%, respectively.

Passenger car sales in Germany