EVs Take 30.6% Share In Germany — Tesla In Freefall

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August saw plugin EVs take 30.6% share of the auto market in Germany, up from 20.6% year on year. BEV volumes were up strongly, while PHEVs increased even more. Overall auto volume was 207,229 units, up some 5% YoY. The best-selling BEV in August was, once again, the Volkswagen ID.3.

The August auto market saw combined EVs take 30.6% share in Germany, with full electric vehicles (BEVs) at 19.0% share and plugin hybrids (PHEVs) at 11.6%. These compare with YoY figures of 20.6% combined, 13.7% BEV and 6.9% PHEV.

As I’ve been reiterating in this year’s reports, beware the baseline! Growth in share this year may appear strong, but remember that 2024’s BEV market was still in shock after the surprise removal of incentives in December 2023. If we instead take 2023 as the baseline, year-to-date BEV share is still nominally below where it was 2 years ago! The 2025 YTD BEV share stands at 17.9% from 18.6% at this point in 2023.

However, the picture is more nuanced still, because August 2023 saw a large pull-forward of BEV sales ahead of looming incentive trimming. A fairer comparison, smoothing out anomalies, would have 2025 YTD BEV share now level with, or some fraction of a percent ahead of, the same point in 2023.

Such modest progress over the course of two years is not a great result. A minor silver lining is that PHEV sales — thanks to longer and longer all-electric ranges — have increased decently, now at 10.1% share YTD, compared to 6.2% YoY in 2024 and 5.6% in 2023. Another potential bright spot is that a greater variety of affordable BEV models are now arriving, opening options for a much wider group of consumers.

Best-Selling BEV Models

The Volkswagen ID.3 was again the best-selling BEV in August, marking three consecutive months in the top spot. Its August volume was 2,350 units, slightly down on the previous 4 months, but enough to lead, given that August is typically Germany’s slowest month of the year for auto sales.

The VW ID.4/ID.5 took second place, with 1,814 units, up one rank from July. In third was the Skoda Elroq, with 1,731 units, its third time in the top 3 rankings.

Having spent the initial 5 months of the year in the top spot, the VW ID.7 has stepped back more recently, and took 4th place in August. Overall production volume of the ID.7 appears to be stable, so the slight volume reduction in Germany is balanced by increasing sales elsewhere in Europe.

There were no striking moves in the top 20, and the more interesting action was going on just outside the table. In the small-and-affordable class, the Leapmotor T03 again saw record volume with 606 units (twice its spring 2025 average), and climbed to 22nd place. Close behind in 24th, the Citroen e-C3 also saw record volume, with 553 units and its highest rank yet.

Their peer, the Renault 5, was taking a temporary break from the top 20 in August, with 552 units sold. The Dacia Spring sold 325 units. As for newer models, the new Renault 4 (barely “affordable,” from €29,400 MSRP), which had its volume launch in June, saw 168 units delivered in August. The Fiat Grande Panda (from €24,990 MSRP) sold 145 units, and the BYD Dolphin Surf was taking it slow with 136 units. The Hyundai Inster was the only small-and-affordable model in the top 20 in August (14th spot) with 875 units.

Having had a careful early period from March through to July, the new Mercedes CLA sedan had its first big-volume month in August, with 557 units (almost 10× its recent volumes), taking 23rd spot. If this trend continues, we can expect to see the CLA inside the top 20 in the next month or two.

There were a couple of debutants in August. The Turkish Togg brand launched its SUV, the T10X, and its sedan, the T10F, with 16 and 7 units registered respectively. These are testing units for now, with order books open from the end of September, so too early to say how these will be received in the German market. We will revisit these models in more detail when they start to see significant customer deliveries. They certainly seem to be compelling vehicles, and good value.

The Lucid Gravity SUV saw 13 registrations in August. Since the Gravity is not yet officially on sale in Europe, these are likely units bought by German automakers looking to learn from the innovative EV company, and likely to tear down some of these cars to search for their “secret sauce.”

In early September, Lucid produced a press release noting customer deliveries of the Gravity in Europe starting in H1 2026. Initial prices will start from over €115,000, so don’t expect notable volumes until more affordable variants are launched (late 2026 or 2027?).

Let’s now look at the longer-term rankings:

After three consecutive monthly pole-positions, it’s no surprise to find the VW ID.3 in the lead, with 7,778 units. Its siblings, the ID.4/ID.5 and ID.7, are in second and third places.

There were few big surprises. The Skoda Elroq has now consolidated itself inside the top 5, a great result. Further back, the Hyundai Inster is sitting in 10th spot, the highest of any Korean model. Its cousin, the Kia EV3, is also in the chart, in 18th spot.

The Renault 5 finds itself back inside the chart, in 20th spot, having briefly appeared once before (April 2025). I would expect it to appear more often than not in the coming months, but a trim to entry pricing would help. More affordable variants have already launched in other markets, but the entry MSRP in Germany remains €27,900 for now (barely affordable).

Note that the Tesla Model Y is having a torrid time in the German market, despite being locally produced in the country. August’s monthly volumes were barely a third of their YoY figure, and its 3-month rank is now down to 17th, from 12th in the prior period. A year ago, the Model Y ranked second in the 3-month chart. This is a dramatic fall from grace for the American brand.

Since Germany is the biggest European market, let’s briefly look at the manufacturing group rankings:

Volkswagen Group remains highly dominant, though its share has dipped to 40.6% of the BEV market, from 44.6% in the prior 3-month period.

BMW Group stays in second place, with share growing to 13.6%, from 11.0% prior. Stellantis has climbed a spot to 3rd (growing from 7.2% to 9.5%), overtaking Hyundai Motor Group, which drops to 4th (growing more modestly, from 7.6% to 8.5%).

Mercedes Group remains steady in 5th, albeit with a bump up in share, from 6.4% to 7.2%. Other positions are static or minor shuffles. Though, Tesla has dropped from 6th to 8th, with share falling from 3.5% to 3.3%. Ford has overtaken Tesla, with share climbing strongly from 2.5% to 3.9%. Who could have predicted that a year or two ago?

Outlook

We’ve seen that Germany’s EV transition is still lacklustre, barely having progressed over the past two years, apart from the growth of PHEVs.

Despite the 5% YoY growth in auto sales, the German economy is still weak, with latest GDP data from Q2 2025 showing negligible YoY growth of 0.2%. Inflation crept up to 2.2% in August, from 2.0% in July. ECB interest rates remain at 2.15%. Manufacturing PMI lifted slightly to 49.8 points in August, from 49.1 in July.

If anyone has anything optimistic to say about Germany’s EV transition, please chime in below, as I’m all out of ideas. The bright spot seems to be the growing momentum of the small-and-affordable class, which is at least making EVs more accessible to a greater spectrum of consumers. Perhaps new model launches in September will add some much-needed energy to the EV market? Please share your thoughts and perspectives below.