Car production increases significantly in August

In August, 313,700 cars were produced in Germany. This represents an increase of 24% compared to the same month last year. Since January, a good 2.7mn cars have been produced in Germany (-2%). However, compared to the pre-crisis year of 2019, production after eight months of the current year was still 14% below the previous figure.

Exports developed even more dynamically than production in the past month: In August, 241,200 brand-new cars were exported from production facilities in Germany (+36%). Since January, a good 2.1mn new cars have been exported, 2% more than in the same period last year. After eight months, exports are still 10% below the pre-crisis level of 2019.

Compared to the same month last year, 4% fewer domestic orders were registered in August of this year. Orders received from abroad were 3% below the previous year's level last month. Overall, i.e. domestic and foreign orders combined, the number of orders in August fell by 3% compared to August of the previous year. After the first eight months of the year, a good 2% more orders were recorded than in the previous year.

In August, new registrations on the German passenger car market fell significantly compared to the same month last year. A total of 197,300 new cars were registered last month, around 28% fewer than in August of the previous year. New registrations fell on the one hand due to a pull-forward effect that had already been noticeable in previous months: new registrations were brought forward to June of this year as a result of the implementation of a new EU regulation on now mandatory assistance systems. On the other hand, August 2023 was greatly inflated for electric vehicles due to the expiration of the environmental bonus for commercial owners on September 1, 2023.

After the first eight months of the year, a good 1.9mn new cars were registered, as many as in the same period last year. The gap compared to pre-crisis levels remains high: sales over the course of the year are down by almost 24% compared to the pre-crisis year of 2019.

As expected, the German market for electric cars fell significantly in August compared to the same month last year. In August, a total of 40,600 electric cars (BEV, PHEV, FCEV) were newly registered, 60% fewer than a year earlier. The sharp decline is due to the high level of the previous year: Due to the expiration of the environmental bonus for commercial owners on September 1, 2023, new registrations of electric cars were greatly inflated in August 2023; this special effect from the previous year is now having an impact.

The VDA had already taken this into account in its expectations regarding the German electric car market: For the year as a whole, the VDA continues to expect 577,900 new registrations of electric cars (including 393,200 BEVs, 184,500 PHEVs). This would correspond to a decline of 17.5% (BEVs: -25%, PHEVs: +5%) compared to 2023. Domestic production of electric vehicles is developing better: around 1.3mn newly produced cars are expected here (+4%). The significantly better development of production compared to the market is due to exports. The markets in which electric cars are sold depends on the respective framework conditions. The extent of the competition between sales markets is reflected in the export share: 80.3% of all electric cars produced in Germany are exported all over the world, and for purely battery-electric BEVs the figure is as high as 81.2%. This means that the export rate of electric cars produced in Germany is even higher than the export rate for all domestic production, which is 77.8%.

In the current year, sales of electric vehicles are 22% below the previous year's level. In Germany, a total of around 359,900 new registrations of electric cars were registered in the first eight months of this year. In detail: BEVs in particular are currently continuing to develop undynamically. In August, the market again suffered a significant decline compared to the previous year. The volume of 27,020 registered units was well below the previous year's level, with a decrease of 69%. This is where the special effect mentioned above is having an impact. In the first eight months, a total of just under 241,900 purely battery-electric vehicles were registered. In the current year, new BEV registrations are accordingly well below the previous year's level by a third (-32%). In August, 13,570 PHEVs were newly registered, which was 7% less than in August of the previous year, but the PHEV segment developed better than the overall passenger car market. This also applies to the year so far: In the first eight months, a total of 117,900 PHEVs were newly registered, 9% more than in the same period last year.