The Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA) reports that German car sales were significantly lower in April. That was to be expected, of course, but the news is supplemented with interesting figures.
In Germany, only 120,840 passenger cars were sold in April. Although that is still more than ten times what was sold in the Netherlands last month, that number is 61.1 percent below that of the same month last year. 50,631 of the total number of passenger cars sold were purchased privately.
In the sales statistics, we come across only one brand that saw its sales increase in April compared to the same month last year: Tesla. With 635 registrations, the brand recorded sales growth of 10.4 percent. Because Tesla sells its cars online – and delivers them to the customer – the brand suffers less from closed dealer locations and points of sale than other manufacturers.
The major German brands recorded bright red figures in the past month. For example, Audi saw its sales decrease by 61 percent to just under 9,000 units. BMW has also been hit hard with a decline of about 50 percent to 12,410 cars. The same goes for Mercedes-Benz, which with 8,508 cars sold saw its sales volume shrink by as much as 71.2 percent. Opel has the dubious honor of registering an even more significant drop in sales than Mercedes-Benz. With 5,153 cars sold, the brand sold a whopping 72.8 percent fewer cars in April than in the same month last year. Volkswagen sold 20,741 vehicles, almost 64 percent less than in April last year. Mini and DS got off relatively mercifully with sales declines of 39 and 20 percent respectively.
In total, 49.9 percent of the cars sold in April have a petrol engine on board. Cars with a diesel engine under the hood accounted for 32.1 percent of our eastern neighbors (38,836 cars). Hybrids accounted for 13.7 percent of the market with 16,573 copies sold. Of those 16,573 cars, 5,618 were plug-in hybrids. The share of EVs in the sales statistics was 3.8 percent (4,635 copies). 0.2 percent of the cars sold in April can handle natural gas. The same percentage applies to cars that like both petrol and LPG.