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The German Auto Market Is Booming With Alternative Drive Systems Vehicles

The Federal Motor Transport Authority in Flensburg, Germany recently stated that almost half of passenger vehicles registered within the first seven months of 2022 didn't run purely on ICEs. That means battery-powered electric vehicles (BEVs), plug-ins or full hybrids, gas (methane, not gasoline), and James May’s favorite mode of getting around, fuel cell-based personal vehicles.
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Photo: Audi
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In comparison to the same period of 2021, alternative fuel-based vehicles saw a rise in registrations by 13%. The BEVs, plug-ins, and fuel-cell ones made up 24.9% of new registrations, with a 10.2% increase. Also, 13.6% were BEVs registrations, up 27.1%. Out of a total of 1,443,886 passenger cars, 638,658 had alternative drive systems, and 358,962 electrical drive ones.

According to the KBA, the German brands had a share of 51.8%, while imported brands added up to 47.3%. Important to note that the Federal Motor Transport Authority did not account for the missing 0.9% from adding together the German and imported brands percentages.

Moving on to the new registrations for passenger cars with electric drive systems, the German brands made up 50.4%, while imported ones represented 48.6%. Again, there’s a missing 1% unaccounted for.

Now let’s circle back to the 51.8% of German brands with newly registered alternative drive system vehicles. Audi had a 68.9% share within its own new registration fleet, but at the same time, it was down 2.1% compared to last year. Numbers-wise, Audi came out on top with 80,829 units registered overall.

BMW had better results compared to last year in the same scenario. Up 17.7% to a share value of 63.8% within its own registered fleet. Mercedes-Benz came in third with 48.7%, an increase of 21.1%. Ford soon followed with a share of 45.6%, up 22.3%. Mini had 30.8%, up 10.8%. Porsche's fleet share was 25.1%, down 13.7% compared to 2021. Opel’s fleet share was only 18%, but it grew by 33.3%. Volkswagen took last place with 16.8%, also a decrease of 27%.

Audi Factory
Photo: Audi
Now, for the imported brands worth 47.3% of all newly registered vehicles that use alternative drive systems. Volvo came in first with just a slight increase of 3.1%, but one that scored a whopping total share of 91.2%. Toyota is next with a total of 71.2%, up 11.4% from last year. Hyundai had at 65.1%, down 1.4%, and Mazda was just below that at 61.2%, up 15.3%.

Renault flaunted a huge increase of 29.2%, with a score of 54%. Fiat was up a whopping 64.8% bringing home a total of 52.9% of fleet registrations with alternative drive. Kia came in close to Fiat with 52.3%, up 19.4%. Peugeot had 46.4%, up 74.4%, Dacia came out a little behind that with 44.4%, but with an 85% increase. Seat had 30.8%, up just one percent, and Skoda 15.6 shares, a drop of 18.8%.

Let’s move on to cars with registrations for cars with electric drive systems. Mini’s newly registered fleet share was 30.8%, up 10.8%. BMW was really close to Mini with 29.3%, though with an increase of 23.1%. Mercedes-Benz was below that with 26.2%, down 11.8%. The Porsche brand had 23.7%, down 14.4%, and Audi 23.7% with a slight decrease of 1.3%. Below the 20% mark were only Ford (18.2%/+19.7%), Opel (18.0%/+33.3%) and VW (14.1%/-32.5 %). Interestingly enough, even though Volkswagen came in the last percentage-wise, mathematically it outperformed every other German manufacturer with a grand total of 37,183 newly registered electric vehicles.

Now it’s back to imported brands. Hyundai registered 39.5%, up 29.9%, Peugeot 46.4%, up 74.4%, Renault with 36.3%, up 19.8%, Kia 34.3%, up 14.3%, Fiat 31.3%, with a huge increase of 177%. Seat’s fleet share was 25.2%, up just 2% and finally, Skoda pulled in 13.6% with a decrease of 20%.

Audi Factory
Photo: Audi
Out of the purely electric vehicle registrations share, as a German brand, Smart was alone in having 100% of its own fleet. Mini had 25.8%, with a rise of 28.4%, Opel by 15.4%, up by 62.1%, Porsche by 14.3%, down 2.1%, Audi by 11.5%, up 109.1%, BMW by 9.9%, up 73.7%, Mercedes 8.2%, up 110.3%, and while having a fleet share of just 8.8%, the VW group was the highest-volume German brand out of all the BEVs with 23,251 units.

Tesla, as part of the imported brands, is last on our list, but certainly not least. In fact, it continues to hold the crown with a share of 100%, and 19.443 vehicles registered. Hyundai came in behind with a 28% share and 16,090 units, Renault (31.2%) with 13,162 fleet vehicles, Fiat scoring 13,477 units with 31.3%, and finally, Polestar with a share of 99.2% raking in 2,451 BEVs.

I know all these numbers and percentages can be confusing at times. They certainly did my head in a couple of times while researching the stats, but one thing is crystal clear. Manufacturers alongside consumers are trying to meet each other halfway with green vehicles, and from the looks of it, there’s less and less interest from both parties for purely ICE vehicles.
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About the author: Codrin Spiridon
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Codrin just loves American classics, from the 1940s and ‘50s, all the way to the muscle cars of the '60s and '70s. In his perfect world, we'll still see Hudsons and Road Runners roaming the streets for years to come (even in EV form, if that's what it takes to keep the aesthetic alive).
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