German car market continues to catch up

In Germany, 247,000 passenger cars were newly registered in May, 19% more than in the same month last year. Despite this significant increase in May, the overall market volume is still low. Although the number is higher than the values in the past four years, significantly more cars were registered in May of each year from 1991 to 2019 than in May 2023.

After the first five months of 2023, the German passenger car market is up 10% (1.1mn units). Despite the solid growth rate, the gap to the pre-crisis level is still large: compared to the first five months of 2019, new registrations are lower a good quarter.

New registrations of electric vehicles developed positively in May. The German market for electric cars increased by 8% compared to the same month last year. 56,600 electric cars were newly registered in May of this year. There was another significant slump in plug-in hybrids (PHEV): 13,800 newly registered units meant a decrease of 41% compared to May of the previous year. New registrations of new, purely battery-electric passenger cars (BEV) rose by around 47% compared with May 2022 to a level of 42,800 units. Thus they developed much more dynamically than the car market as a whole. A total of 230,500 e-cars were sold in the first five months of the current year. That is 7% less than in the same period last year.

This decline is due to the development of PHEVs: while BEVs have increased by 24% to 167,300 units in the year to date, PHEV registrations have fallen by 44% to 63,100.

Incoming orders at German manufacturers continued to decline in the past month. Compared to the same month last year, 19% fewer orders were registered in May of this year. In the period from January to May, domestic orders fell by 28% compared to the corresponding period last year. Foreign orders in May were 3% below the prior-year level. After a weak start to the year, the order volume from abroad fell by 4% in the first five months of this year compared to the same period last year. Overall, 8% fewer orders have been registered over the course of the year than in the same period of the previous year, 2022.

In May, the production level in German production facilities of the automotive industry was above that of the same month of the previous year for the thirteenth time in a row. In the past month, 381,100 cars rolled off the production lines. That is 25% more than in May 2022. A total of a good 1.8mn passenger cars have been produced since the beginning of the year. This corresponds to an increase of 32% compared to the same period last year. Despite the positive trend in recent months, the production level is still significantly below the pre-crisis level. In the first five months of the current year, 13% fewer vehicles were manufactured than in the first five months of the pre-COVID year 2019.

Exports developed similarly to production in May: 295,700 cars were delivered to customers all over the world. That is 24% more than in the same month last year. In the current year, the export of passenger cars increased significantly compared to the same period last year: Almost 1.4mn units exported mean an increase of 33% compared to the same period last year.