New registrations in the first half of the year: Nothing is booming in Germany, except hybrid

A total of 1,685,212 new vehicles were registered in the first six months of the year – a decrease of 8.2 percent. In June, 256,193 new passenger cars were registered – a decrease of 13.8 percent compared to the same month last year. Overall, June recorded 309,983 new vehicles (-13.0%).

Particularly striking declines were seen among individual manufacturers: Tesla lost 58.2 percent in the first half of the year, reaching only 8,890 new registrations. Smart reached a historic low with a drop of 77.2 percent. Opel lost 20.4 percent in the first half of the year, and Audi lost 6.2 percent. VW, still by far the highest-volume brand, recorded 285,998 new registrations, down 1.1 percent from the previous year. In June, VW's results fell by 20.7 percent.

Double- and triple-digit growth was primarily reported by Chinese and new suppliers: XPeng increased by 3,335.5 percent in the first half of the year, Lynk & Co by 1,112.5 percent, and BYD by 426.0 percent. Ineos (+311.1%), GWM (+256.2%), Maxus (+120.0%), and KGM (+101.6%) also grew significantly at a low volume level. Mini achieved an increase of 32.3 percent in June, BMW was up 5.2 percent, and Mercedes was up 4.9 percent.

Traditional drive systems declined significantly in June. Gasoline vehicles lost 34.6 percent (share: 28.5%), and diesel vehicles 32.3 percent (share: 13.9%). For the first half of the year, gasoline vehicles were down 27.8 percent and diesel vehicles 23.2 percent compared to the previous year. LPG vehicles accounted for 1,346 registrations (-7.7%), and hydrogen vehicles 19 units.

Alternative drive systems continued their positive development. In June, 47,163 battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) were newly registered – an increase of 8.6 percent, accounting for 18.4 percent of the total. Plug-in hybrids recorded growth of 66.4 percent (25,608 units, share: 10.0%). Hybrid vehicles totaled 98,940 registrations (+12.5%, share: 38.6%). In the first half of the year, the number of all-electric passenger cars increased by 35.1 percent to 248,584 vehicles (share: 17.7%).

Average CO₂ emissions of newly registered cars fell by 10.3 percent to 107.1 g/km in June. For the first half of the year, the figure fell by 11.1 percent to 109.6 g/km.

Despite a slight decline of 2.8 percent in June, the SUV segment remained the highest-volume segment with a 34.2 percent share. The compact class fell significantly (-31.1 percent), reaching a 16.6 percent market share. Double-digit declines were also seen in off-road vehicles (-13.6 percent, share: 10.0 percent) and small cars (-7.4 percent, share: 13.0 percent). In the half-year results, SUVs grew by 6.6 percent (market share: 32.5 percent), the upper mid-size class grew by 81.9 percent, and utilities by 17.4 percent.

The used vehicle market remained stable. In June, 620,774 vehicles changed hands – a decrease of 0.4 percent. In the first half of the year, transfers of ownership increased to 3,863,377 vehicles (+1.1%).