Vehicle Inventory 2022: Combustion Engines Leading - Electric Vehicles on the Rise

According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA), the number of vehicles has increased by 850,000 compared to the previous year's reference date. German brands were once again at the forefront. Volkswagen slightly increased its market share by 0.3 percent to 21 percent, Mercedes went up by 0.7 percent to 9.5 percent, and Opel secured third place with 8.6 percent (-1.7%). Among the import brands, VW subsidiary Skoda maintained the top position (5.2 percent, +3.9 percent) ahead of Renault (3.6%, -1.1%) and both Hyundai and Seat with 2.9 percent each (Hyundai +4.4%, Seat +5.0%).

Almost 95 percent petrol and diesel

Combustion engines still make up the lion's share of the vehicle fleet. Of the 48,540,878 cars that were registered on Germany's roads as of January 1, 2022, 63.9 percent (around 31 million vehicles) were powered by petrol engines, and 30.5 percent (about 14.8 million vehicles) were diesel.

Electric Cars Accelerate

Significant increases in alternative drive types were once again shown by electric vehicles (BEV) with 618,460 units and hybrid vehicles including plug-in hybrid-cars with 1,669,051 units. The share of electric cars(BEV) doubled to 1.3 percent (+100.1%, 618,460 vehicles), and that of hybrid cars rose to 3.4 percent (+66.2%). However, the figures do not take into account that a significant portion of the subsidized e-vehicles are sold abroad (Vision Mobility reported). The big winner again is Tesla, with the Californians increasing by a whopping 93 percent to 66,400 vehicles. This means that more than one in ten BEVs in Germany is a Tesla.

Trends in New Registrations

Measured by new registrations, the share of pure electric vehicles last year was approximately 11 percent, while plug-in hybrids accounted for 10 percent. Mild hybrids, often found in company cars in Germany, reached about 19 percent. The statistics were again heavily influenced by the semiconductor shortage last year, especially in the electric car sector where some models were unavailable, which naturally is reflected in the registration numbers.