14% Of New Car Sales In Germany Fully Electric, & 26% Have A Plug

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With several disruptions affecting it, the overall German automotive market is still in the red. The market dropped 13% last month year over year. It seems all this doom and gloom is affecting plugins differently, however. Sales of full electric vehicles (BEVs) were up in July by 13% year over year (YoY). There were 28,815 BEV registrations last month, representing 14% of the overall market. On the other hand, plugin hybrids (PHEVs) performed worse than the overall market (-21%). Consumers might be starting to move away from them. The latter had 23,712 registrations, or 11.5% of the total auto market.

June’s 26% plugin vehicle share kept the year-to-date score at 25% (14% BEV). A 25–30% result by year end seems not only possible, but likely.

Fiat 500e Tops EV Sales In Germany (Again)

Another month, another win for the little Italian. Thanks to 2,170 registrations, like in June, the electric Fiat again took the #1 spot in July. It was a sizable distance, more than 700 units, above the runner-up VW ID.4.

Despite not winning the best seller title, the German crossover led a Volkswagen charge into the top spots. Three Volkswagen models made it into the top 5. Besides the #2 position of the ID.4, the ID.3 was 4th and the little e-Up was 5th, leaving just two spots for the competition. Those two remaining spots were filled by Stellantis. The #3 Opel Corsa EV complemented the Fiat 500e’s spot in the lead.

Interestingly, the 6th position was occupied by another small car, with the little BMW i3 now running its last laps at a fast clip before going into EV heaven. It was also the only BMW in the top 20, which raises two questions:

1. Isn’t the i3 being retired too soon?
2. Who is going to replace it on the best sellers list? The iX is too expensive and being outsold by the Audi e-tron, the i4 is missing in action, and the iX3 … well, let’s not even go there.

Other models had their opportunity to shine last month, like the Hyundai Ioniq 5, which was #7 last month with 1,233 registrations, a new year best. Still in the first half of the table, we have two models with record scores, an unusual feat considering we were still in the holiday season. The #8 Audi Q4 e-tron got a record 1,193 registrations, highlighting the recent production ramp-up in the Volkswagen EV galaxy. And in #10 we have the Opel Mokka EV scoring a record performance, 1,173 registrations, underlining Opel’s current peak form (… imagine that a few years ago …).

The second half of the table also saw record scores, with the Hyundai Tucson PHEV (1,025 units) and the sporty Cupra Born (1,012 units) getting best ever scores. The Spaniard benefitted from increased production output, something that could also be said about the Tesla Model Y — with the Berlin factory increasing its output, it is becoming less dependent on the Made-in-China units, thus avoiding the deep valleys of the first months of the quarter. The Model Y had 1,035 units delivered last July, by far its best result in a first month of the quarter in German lands. We can anticipate a record performance next September from Tesla’s crossover. The question is: How high will it be?

Last month, Volkswagen Group had 9 representatives in July’s top 20. Or ten in the top 21 if we add the #21 VW Tiguan PHEV (818 units, a new record) to the tally. Not bad, Volkswagen, not bad….

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Outside the top 20, the highlights are the Ford Mustang Mach-E, which had a record 549 deliveries, and Stellantis scoring positive performances from the Peugeot stable. The small Peugeot e-208 (748 registrations) was close to reaching the top 20, while the e-2008 crossover had its best result of the year last month, with 546 deliveries.

Finally, we have the Renault Megane EV with 752 registrations. The French hatchback was already Renault’s best selling EV in Germany.

Fiat 500e Has Strong Lead At #1 After 7 Months

Regarding the 2022 table, the Fiat 500e gained significant sales advantage over the runner-up Tesla Model 3, mostly thanks to the city car’s performance last month, but also benefitting from Tesla’s usual slow first month of the quarter. With the Italian EV now having a 2,500-unit advantage over the US sedan, the cute Fiat is gaining a precious head start that could prove to be crucial further along in the year.

With the little Italian EV now a comfortable #1 in the German plugin market, Stellantis finds itself leading the best selling models lists in both Germany and France.

We have to go down to the second half of the table to see position changes. The Climber of the Month was the VW e-Up, which surged 5 spots in the table, into #11, while just below it, we have the BMW i3, which went up to #12.

In the last positions of the table, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 was up two positions, to #17, while the Audi A3 PHEV replaced the Mercedes GLC PHEV in the 20th position. The Audi Q4 e-tron was in #21, just two units behind its smaller sibling, so we could see PHEVs reduced to just four representatives in the top 20 next month.

4 German Brands Lead Plugin Vehicle Sales In Germany

In the brand ranking, a surging Volkswagen (10.3%, up from 9.6%) ousted the previous leader, BMW (9.9%, down from 10%), along with previous runner-up Mercedes (9.3%, down from 9.8%). With both Premium brands losing ground and Volkswagen returning to its natural self, the plugin market is getting closer to matching the overall market and less premium-heavy.

Audi (7.7%) remained at a comfortable 4th place and is waiting to see how much Mercedes and BMW will fall. We could see the four ring automaker competing for a place on the podium soon.

In the race for the 5th position, Hyundai (6.3%, up from 6.1%) gained ground on Tesla (5.4%), but the US automaker should recover in September and might surpass the Korean brand by then.

Looking at the rankings by OEM, the standings remained the same. Volkswagen Group has its domestic market well in hand, having increased its market share by 0.9 point to 26.9% share. It is followed at a distance by Stellantis, which — thanks to strong performances — was up 0.1 percentage point to 13.8%, allowing it to gain a little more distance over falling Mercedes-Benz Group (11.5%, down 0.7 points). Mercedes was even surpassed last month by BMW Group (11.9%), despite it too having lost share (-0.1%).

The #5 Hyundai–Kia collab (10.4%, up from 10%) had a good month and is safe from the Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance, in 6th with 8.6% share.

See last month’s German EV sales report: 26% Of New Car Sales In Germany Have A Plug, 14% Fully Electric.