Electric car sales peak in December and then collapse mercilessly. This is due to the low addition, which went from 12 percent on the first 40,000 euros to 16 percent on the first 35,000 euros as of 1 January. And that is reflected in the sales figures for January. Those are really dramatic for electric cars…
So you see that electric cars are still mainly a business matter. Yes, there is a subsidy – private individuals can get 3350 euros if they buy a new EV – but that does not account for the large numbers. Incidentally, the subsidy pot is still not empty, so if you want to buy or privately lease an electric car, take your chance now.
The Cupra Born went down by almost 100 percent
But the sales figures of electric cars … They mean nothing in January. To give you an example: the Cupra Born – a dressed-up Volkswagen ID.3 – was good for 1134 registrations in December and last month only for … wait for it … 4 copies. That is a decrease of almost 100 percent in one month. Oof! But let’s see: how did some others do it?
Electric car sales December vs. January
- Audi E-Tron – December: 532 – January: 44
- Audi Q4 E-Tron – December: 1183 – January: 108
- Cupra Born – December: 1134 – January: 4
- Ford Mustang Mach-E – December: 1250 – January: 65
- Hyundai Ioniq 5 – December: 932 – January: 91
- Kia EV6 – Dec: 887 – Jan: 121
- MG ZS EV – December: 75 – January: 2
- Polestar 2 – Dec: 1062 – Jan: 16
- Tesla Model 3 – December: 974 – January: 2
- Tesla Model Y – December: 908 – January: 7
- Volkswagen ID.3 – December: 1009 – January: 32
- Volkswagen ID.4 – December: 1219 – January: 33
Two positive exceptions to the rule: Dacia and Porsche
Were all electric models this bad last month? No definitely not. There are a few notable exceptions, including the Dacia Spring, which benefits from the subsidy and jumps from 68 to 91 … erm …. And then we have the Porsche Taycan, which is so expensive that it does not qualify for low addition. Porsche sold 123 of the electric four-door sports car in December and 132 last month.