Another striking fact from Bovag’s ‘Mobility in Figures’: passenger cars are on average becoming more expensive again in the Netherlands. That is special, because last year the number 1 in sales statistics was exceptionally pricey.
We wrote it earlier: that an American sedan with a starting price of half a ton would again become the number one in Dutch sales statistics, no one could have predicted. The Tesla Model 3 succeeded, proving once again that the impact of far-reaching fiscal measures in the car sector is difficult to overestimate.
The Tesla did something else with the sales statistics, according to the figures from Bovag. Where the average car in 2018 cost ‘only’ € 33,928 (also considerably more than the € 31,499 in 2017), that average price rose to € 37,053 in 2019.
It has now been 2020 for quite some time and there is a somewhat more modest model at number 1: the Kia Niro. The rest of the top 10 also consists of cars with a relatively friendly price tag, mainly thanks to an abundance of compact hatchbacks from the B and C segment. The Tesla has now dropped to 14th place.
It is all the more remarkable that the average new value of a passenger car has risen again in 2020. The average car cost € 37,053 this year. That is admittedly only € 172 more than in 2019, but in the light of that somewhat slumped Model 3 it may just as well be called remarkable. So it seems that the popularity of SUVs, EVs and relatively pricey plug-in hybrids leave a bigger mark on the whole than the top 10 would suggest.
Incidentally, there is a small caveat to these figures: the amount for 2020 is an average of the first five months. What the situation will look like after May and throughout the year will have to become clear early next year.
Less bpm on average
It seems easy to blame the increases in bpm rates following the WLTP cycle, but Bovag’s figures do not support this assumption. After all, there is a strong electrification trend against the stricter measuring cycle. In 2020, car manufacturers are almost forced to equip models with an electric aid, resulting in a never-ending stream of mild hybrids and plug-in hybrids.
In the first half of 2020, petrol cars and petrol hybrids were ‘only’ 14 percent of the bpm price. Last year that was 16 percent. The average car in this category cost € 35,179 in the first half year, against € 32,270 for the full year 2019.
Diesel is seriously on the decline, but that starts with the lower segments. The cars that are now still to some extent sold with a diesel engine are therefore well priced. The average diesel from the first half of 2020 has a new price of € 54,709, against € 53,091 for a typical model from 2019. Once again, the share of bpm has fallen slightly according to Bovag figures, by 9 instead of 13 percent. The share of the diesel surcharge in the bpm, of which the amount per gram even increased slightly, remained the same at 11 percent.