Volkswagen’s EV Sales Surpass Tesla In Germany (2024)

In May, new passenger car registrations in Germany decreased by 4.3% year-over-year to 236,425; EVs contributed significantly.

The total number of new plug-in electric car registrations last month amounted to 43,746, down 23% year over year. The market share decreased to 18.5%, compared to 22.9% a year ago. However, let's note the lack of EV incentives in 2024, too.

Battery-electric car registrations decreased by 30.6% year-over-year to 29,708, taking the EV market share down to 12.6%, compared to 17.3% a year ago. Plug-in hybrid car registrations noted a marginal increase of nearly 2% year-over-year to 14,038.

The results are pretty disappointing, but it seems it will be difficult to achieve growth this year.

Plug-in car registrations last month (YOY change):

• BEVs: 29,708 (down 31%) and 12.6% market share
• PHEVs: 14,038 (up 2%) and 5.9% market share
• Total: 43,746 (down 23%) and 18.5% market share

Plug-in electric car registrations in Germany – May 2024

So far this year, new passenger plug-in electric car registrations amounted to 214,871, down 7% year over year. Plug-ins account for 18.3% of the total sales volume.

Plug-in car registrations year-to-date (YOY change):

• BEVs: 140,713 (down 16%) and 12% market share
• PHEVs: 74,158 (up 17%) and 6.3% market share
• Total: 214,871 (down 7%) and 18.3% market share

For reference, in 2023, 699,943 new passenger plug-in electric cars were registered in Germany, close to 25% of the total volume.

Top brands

Last month, Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and BMW had the highest number of newly registered plug-in cars, all of which sold over 5,000 units. Volkswagen was number one in the all-electric category with 5,174 units.

Tesla is losing its steam recently, getting less than 1,900 new registrations in May.

Plug-in car registrations by brands (at least 1,000) last month:

• Mercedes-Benz: 5,925 - 2,441 BEVs and 3,484 PHEVs
• Volkswagen: 5,421 - 5,174 BEVs and 247 PHEVs
• BMW: 5,244 - 3,346 BEVs and 1,898 PHEVs
• Volvo: 3,268 - 1,370 BEVs and 1,898 PHEVs
• Audi: 2,858 - 1,550 BEVs and 1,308 PHEVs
• Seat: 2,731 - 1,420 BEVs and 1,311 PHEVs
• MG Roewe: 2,353 BEVs
• Skoda: 1,950 - 1,920 BEVs and 30 PHEVs
• Tesla: 1,896 BEVs
• smart: 1,509 BEVs
• Hyundai: 1,458 - 1,175 BEVs and 283 PHEVs
• Kia: 1,452 - 1,055 BEVs and 397 PHEVs

After the first five months of the year, Mercedes-Benz has strengthened as the brand with the highest number of rechargeable car registrations. Meanwhile, Volkswagen has returned to the top in the all-electric car segment with a noticeable advantage over Tesla (19,815 vs. 16,601). The German brand was #1 in 2023.

Plug-in car registrations by brands year-to-date (at least 5,000):

• Mercedes-Benz: 31,562 - 13,345 BEVs and 18,217 PHEVs
• BMW: 24,053 - 14,868 BEVs and 9,185 PHEVs
• Volkswagen: 21,439 - 19,815 BEVs and 1,624 PHEVs
• Tesla: 16,601 BEVs
• Audi: 16,067 - 9,405 BEVs and 6,662 PHEVs
• Volvo: 14,970 - 6,229 BEVs and 8,741 PHEVs
• Seat: 10,596 - 4,535 BEVs and 6,061 PHEVs
• Hyundai: 8,059 - 6,557 BEVs and 1,502 PHEVs
• Skoda: 7,768 - 7,311 BEVs and 457 PHEVs
• Kia: 7,041 - 4,817 BEVs and 2,224 PHEVs
• smart: 6,923 BEVs
• MG Roewe: 6,356 - 6,354 BEVs and 2 PHEVs
• Opel: 6,340 - 3,473 BEVs and 2,867 PHEVs
• Ford: 5,681 - 1,272 BEVs and 4,409 PHEVs
• Porsche: 5,447 - 1,401 BEVs and 4,046 PHEVs

Top BEV models

The Tesla Model Y remains Germany's best-selling all-electric car model this year, with 13,316 registrations year-to-date, including 1,169 in May.However, multiple models noted better results in May, including 2,383 Volkswagen ID.3s. The Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 duo has 9,291 registrations, including 1,831 in May.

Top all-electric models year-to-date in 2024 (YOY change):

• Tesla Model Y - 13,316 (down 39%)
• Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 - 9,291 (down 30%)
• Skoda Enyaq iV - 7,311 (up 25%)
• Volkswagen ID.3 - 6,940 (down 27%)
• Audi Q4 e-tron - 5,670 (down 14%)