Sixt angry: Poor residual values of electric cars spoil balance sheet - "Seed of industrial policy inconsistency"

Sixt slipped into the red in the first quarter and had to cut its forecast. In the end, the car rental company from Pullach near Munich reported a loss of 23.1 million euros, as announced on Friday. This was around 45 million euros worse than in the same period last year. According to the company, higher vehicle costs are primarily to blame. The cause is falling residual values - especially for electric cars. This makes it more difficult for Sixt to sell its rental cars after use. The trend has even intensified recently. Additionally, poor economic prospects, high interest rates, and declining market prices in some regions weighed on the company. In an interview with Handelsblatt, CEO Alexander Sixt also blamed the government.

"If you want to phase out combustion engines, you also have to be consistent and promote electromobility as it is done in other parts of the world," explained Co-CEO Alexander Sixt. "If you don’t do that and then realize it doesn’t work and question the combustion engine ban again, it is difficult for everyone," criticized the son of founder Erich Sixt. "No matter what you do now, you reap the seeds of industrial policy inconsistency."

Customers apparently also do not book the electric cars as often as the rental company had hoped. The utilization of electric cars is "not satisfactory," explained Sixt. This does not mean that they are saying goodbye to e-mobility, but "that we have to reduce electric cars." The Munich-based company actually wanted to convert between 70 and 90 percent of its fleet in Europe to electric cars by 2030. Now Alexander Sixt is questioning this plan again. 

"Between summer 2022 and March 2024, residual values for battery electric vehicles in Germany dropped by around 40 percent on average. I cannot recall such a loss in value," lamented Co-CEO Alexander Sixt in the Handelsblatt interview.