Increase in new registrations in August – Political paradox for plug-in hybrids

In August 2025, new passenger car registrations in Germany rose by 5.0 percent to 207,229 vehicles. With one less working day, calendar-adjusted growth compared to the previous year was +10.0 percent. This is according to an analysis of figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) by the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK). New passenger car registrations of international brands accounted for around 41.9 percent of the total market in August 2025.

Since the beginning of the year, a total of 1.7 percent fewer vehicles have been registered than in the same period last year. This amounted to a total of 1,874,820 passenger cars, including 797,629 vehicles from international brands. The share of international brands was thus 42.5 percent.

Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) recorded particularly strong growth in August compared to the same month last year. New PHEV registrations rose by 76.7 percent to 23,973 vehicles last month. This corresponds to a market share of 11.6 percent, which is around 4.7 percentage points above the previous year’s figure and by far the highest since the end of the PHEV purchase subsidy.

“Plug-in hybrids are very popular because this type of drive system adapts flexibly to the customer’s usage profile. Greater electric ranges mean that even more distances can be covered purely on electric power. As a result, PHEVs are making an increasingly significant contribution to CO2 reduction. It is therefore only logical that they are taxed at a lower rate as company cars. Paradoxically, however, PHEVs are increasingly less likely to count toward European CO2 fleet limits due to the new utility factor regulation. Action is needed here,” said VDIK President Imelda Labbé.

In the PHEV market, international brands are expected to have put 8,391 new vehicles on the road in August, an increase of 86.2 percent over the same month last year. Their market share was thus 35.0 percent of the total PHEV market. A total of 190,075 new PHEV passenger cars have been registered since the beginning of the year (+61.2 percent), giving them a market share of 10.1 percent of all new passenger car registrations. International brands have had a market share of 40.2 percent of the total PHEV market since the beginning of the year.

39,367 purely battery-electric passenger cars (BEVs) were newly registered in August 2025, representing an increase of 45.7 percent over the same month last year. New registrations for international brands are expected to have risen slightly above average by 51.9 percent to 15,014 vehicles. The BEV market share in August 2025 was 19.0 percent of all new passenger car registrations, around 5.3 percentage points higher than in the same month last year and the highest figure since the end of the BEV purchase subsidy over a year and a half ago. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 336,707 BEVs have been newly registered, representing growth of 39.2 percent over the same period last year. International brands accounted for around 39.3 percent of this figure, with their market share in the BEV segment expected to have risen by 2.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The BEV market share for the first eight months of 2025 is 18.0 percent, which is still not at the level required to achieve the CO2 limit targets.

n total, electric vehicles – i.e., BEVs and PHEVs combined – accounted for 63,340 new passenger car registrations in August, 56.1 percent more than in the same month last year. Their market share was 30.6 percent (August 2024: 20.6 percent). Since the beginning of the year, 526,782 new electric vehicles have been registered, giving them a market share of 28.1 percent.

The number of new commercial vehicle registrations in August was 27,081, 16.5 percent higher than in August of the previous year. Since January 2025, 228,800 new commercial vehicles have been registered (-11.7 percent).