German new-car registration figures improve in June
05 July 2021
Last month saw another period of double-digit declines in new-car registrations for Germany compared with 2019. However, the 30.7% contraction in May has was nearly halved in June, down to 15.7%.
Germany has been able to reduce infection rates in recent weeks as its vaccination programme picks up speed. Over half of the population has now received their first dose, and nearly 40% have received both. As this programme continues, consumer confidence can be expected to rise as people return to showrooms.
The automotive industry saw enormous losses last year as COVID-19 pushed registration figures into a nosedive. To compare 2021’s numbers with this period would wield non-representative results of enormous spikes as markets attempt recoveries. 2019 is a far more stable point of reference for new-car registrations. Autovista24 will continue to compare against this period, with all data references made against 2019.
Right direction
According to the latest data from the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA), 274,152 new passenger-cars were registered in Germany last month. This equated to a drop of 15.7% against June 2019.
However, there were three additional working days this year. Accounting for this imbalance, Germany actually experienced a more severe decline of 27.2%.
Breaking down these figures, private registrations accounted for 33% of the market in June. Considering the first six months of this year, 1,390,889 new vehicles were registered, equating to a drop of 24.8%.
Analysing market shares
Picking out two prominent local and imported example brands, Volkswagen (VW) held 20.8% of the German market last month, with 57,159 registrations. This meant a decrease of 8.3% compared with the same period in 2019. Meanwhile the import brand Skoda, while operating under the same umbrella company, saw a larger decline of 23.6% from roughly 20,000 registrations two years ago to over 15,000 in the same period this year.
Alternative drives saw a positive growth in June. Some 33,420 newly registered battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) captured 12.2% of the market. The stepping stone technology of hybrid drives saw 76,564 new units, equalling a share of 27.9%. This included 31,314 plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) taking 11.4%.
Meanwhile, 682 liquid and 467 natural-gas vehicles accounted for a combined market share of 0.4%. On the other side of the coin, internal combustion engines (ICE) continued to see a decline in uptake. Accordingly, the average CO2 emissions of newly registered cars fell by 22.8% compared with 2019 and reached a value of 121.7g/km.
SUVs had a strong grip on the market last month, accounting for roughly a quarter (24.8%) of all new registrations. The compact and small car classes were also relatively successful, capturing 17.5% and 14.8% shares, respectively. This means these three segments accounted for nearly 60% of all registrations in Germany during June.
