Registrations of electric cars drop 69 percent and overall sales by 28 percent, Tesla in particular, taking a beating.

• Car sales in Germany dropped sharply in August versus the same month last year, with EVs suffering the worst, new data reveals.
• EV registrations fell by 69 percent last month and total passenger vehicle sales dropped 28 percent.
• Tesla’s sales slumped 66 percent in August, but Peugeot and Volvo gained ground.

VW executives this week rationalized plans to close two plants by telling angry workers that the car market was in a rut and demand was unlikely to return to pre-COVID levels. And nowhere is that slump more apparent than in Germany itself, new figures show.

Data from the country’s Federal Motor Transport Authority (Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt – KBA) reveals that total passenger vehicle sales fell 28 percent in August compared to the same month last year.

Related: EV Sales Crash 37% In Germany As Subsidy Cuts Bite

German brands all recorded big falls, including Mini (down 45 percent), Audi (-37 percent), BMW (-23 percent) and Mercedes (-16 percent). And although VW held onto its position as the brand with the biggest market share (18 percent), its sales fell by 23 percent.

However, the picture of the EV market painted by KBA’s numbers is even gloomier. Registrations of electric cars were up 12.7 percent across the Jan-Aug period, but that success was achieved at the beginning of 2024. EV sales dropped by a massive 69 percent in August, having slid by 37 percent in July and 16 percent in June, in part due to cuts in EV subsidies.

Tesla fared particularly badly, its registrations falling 66 percent this August compared with August 2023, and dropping 45 percent in the Jan-Aug period. The American automaker’s Model Y SUV was Europe’s best-selling car of any power type last year, but has suffered a huge drop in demand and has no chance of repeating that achievement in 2024.

While EV sales plummeted by more than two-thirds, in August, registrations of petrol cars only eased back by 7 percent, showing how customers are increasingly turning to the ICE power they know, trust, and can afford, rather than splashing out on more modern electric alternatives. Hybrid sales were barely affected at all, dropping only 1.5 percent, though PHEVs fell 7 percent, and even the diesel sector (down 24 percent) didn’t suffer as badly as the EV one.

KBA’s most recent data drop wasn’t bad news for everybody in the German car market, however. Peugeot grew its sales by 17 percent in August and 36 percent in January-August, and Volvo’s registrations improved by 19 percent and 55 percent.

German market passenger car sales

Brand	Sales Aug ’24	Change vs Aug ’23	Sales Jan-Aug ’24	Change vs Jan-Aug ’24
AIWAYS	–	-100,0	27	-41.3
ALFA ROMEO	365	-24,7	4,526	7.6
ALPINE	18	-14,3	341	+20,1
Aston Martin	12	-67,6	229	-32,4
Audi	13,550	-36.6	137,150	-17,8
BENTLEY	9	-82,7	515	-15,6
BMW	16,140	-23,0	152,009	0.3
BYD	218	-89,3	1,650	-38,1
CADILLAC	6	-80,0	137	-42,9
CITROEN	2,981	-21,3	38.595	47.1
DACIA	4,502	-38,1	48,768	2.4
DS	192	-11,1	2,082	35.1
Ferrari	140	4.5	1.460	13.2
Fiat	4,057	-52,3	45,163	-13,3
FISKER	2	–	132	–
Ford	8.418	-28,0	68,548	-16,7
GWM	249	-88,7	1,894	-38,1
HONDA	595	-25,5	4,920	20.5
HYUNDAI	7,954	-31,5	66,623	-8.0
INEOS	42	-60,4	369	-24,8
JAGUAR	99	-59,1	1,607	-25,2
YEEP	708	-66,2	7,898	-11,6
KIA	5,450	-38.5	47,815	-7,2
LADA	7	-46,2	32	-75,4
LAMBORGHINI	86	1.2	906	27.6
LANCIA	–	–	1	–
LAND ROVER	771	-35,9	8,546	-9.8
Lexus	510	17.0	3,147	43.8
Lotus	37	37.0	231	11.1
LUCID	13	+44,4	86	53.6
LYNK & CO	2	-98,9	48	-97,7
MAN	105	-7,1	1.004	-36,1
MASERATI	31	-50,0	378	-54,7
MAXUS	3	-70,0	50	47.1
MAZDA	2,684	-30,6	29,744	-0.6
Mercedes	19,437	-15,5	169,299	-10,8
MG ROEWE	594	-75,8	16,027	13.7
Mini	2,619	-44,6	20,126	-34,9
MITSUBISHI	1,867	7.1	20,258	91.1
Morgan	12	140.0	51	24.4
NIO	35	-91,5	301	-62,6
NISSAN	1,989	-27,5	20,674	-1,1
Opel	12.142	-17,1	101,758	8.1
PEUGEOT	4.875	16.9	42,863	36.0
POLESTAR	188	-75,1	2.195	-55,8
PORSCHE	1.895	-18,0	25,851	9.4
RENAULT	3,672	-45,2	33.601	-23,0
Rolls Royce	17	-43,3	226	0.4
SEAT	10.597	-26,3	106,500	+20,9
SKODA	14,451	0.0	137.597	23.2
SMART	650	-77,9	9,670	-23,3
SSANGYONG	74	-82,7	1.320	-19,5
SUBARU	364	-33,0	2,981	-2.0
SUZUKI	2,232	-18,4	16,919	2.8
Tesla	2,370	-65,7	26,089	-44,7
TOYOTA	6,800	-12,3	60,058	13.7
VINFAST	23	–	59	–
VOLVO	3,934	18.8	41,275	55.3
VW	35,359	-23,3	365,965	4.6
XPENG	33	–	80	–
other	1,066	-33,3	8,080
TOTAL	197,322	-27,8	1,907,226	-0,3
EVs	27,024	-68.8	241,911	12.7