International manufacturers make significant gains with e-cars

In May 2025, new car registrations in Germany rose by 1.2% to 239,297 vehicles compared to the same month last year. This is the result of an evaluation of the figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) by the Association of International Motor Vehicle Manufacturers (VDIK). The share of new passenger car registrations of international brands in the overall market was around 42.1 percent in May 2025. Since the beginning of the year, a total of 2.4% fewer vehicles have been registered than in the same period last year. This amounted to a total of 1,146,596 passenger cars, including 489,736 vehicles of international brands. The share of international brands was therefore 42.7 percent.43,060 purely battery electric passenger cars (BEVs) were newly registered in May 2025, an increase of 44.9% compared to the same month last year. New registrations for international brands even rose by 51.2% to 16,790 vehicles. The BEV market share in May 2025 was 18.0% of all new passenger car registrations, around 0.5 percentage points higher than in the same month last year. A total of 201,563 BEVs have been newly registered since the beginning of the year, which corresponds to growth of 43.2% compared to the same period last year. International brands accounted for around 37.3% of this figure, meaning that their market share in the BEV segment is likely to have risen by 5.3 percentage points compared to the same period last year. The BEV market share in the first four months of 2025 is therefore 17.6%, which is still not at the level required to achieve the CO2 limit targets.

“The slightly positive trend in new registrations gives us hope for a recovery in an overall market that is still below the previous year. The international manufacturers have contributed disproportionately to the increase in BEV registrations with many new models, but the CO2 targets will still not be met. The depreciation on electric vehicles in the commercial sector that has now been announced will not provide the necessary e-car boost. At the same time, we need the measures announced in the coalition agreement for private customers and the used car market. Only if car buyers know reliably what costs they will incur when buying or leasing will they opt for an electric car,” says VDIK President Imelda Labbé.

Plug-in hybrids (PHEVs) also recorded strong growth in May 2025 compared to the same month last year. New PHEV registrations rose by 79.4% to 25,181 vehicles last month. This corresponds to a market share of 10.5%, which is around 4.6 percentage points higher than the previous year’s figure. In the PHEV market, the international brands more than doubled in May with a provisional figure of 101.4 percent, bringing their market share to 39.2 percent of the total PHEV market. A total of 113,297 PHEV passenger cars have been newly registered since the beginning of the year (+52.8%), bringing their market share to 9.9% of all new passenger car registrations.

In total, electric vehicles – i.e. BEVs and PHEVs combined – accounted for 68,241 new passenger car registrations in May, 56.0% more than in the same month last year. Their market share was 28.5% (May 2024: 18.5%). Since the beginning of the year, 314,860 electric vehicles have been newly registered, bringing their market share to 27.5%.

The number of new commercial vehicle registrations in May was 26,898, 9.6% lower than in May of the previous year. Since January 2025, 136,979 new commercial vehicles have been registered (-14.0%).

“In terms of commercial vehicle purchases, the BMF’s tax investment program could stimulate the strongly declining commercial vehicle segment somewhat. However, the leasing business, which accounts for the majority of registrations, is not included in this program. Therefore, this measure does not develop its full potential in terms of electromobility,” says Labbé.

Source: KBA, VDIK