Electric car sales in Germany doubled in September

In September, almost twice as many electric cars were registered in Germany as in the same month last year. Their market share is approaching that of hybrid cars. Tesla and Chinese manufacturers in particular are benefiting from the rapidly growing demand.

The high fuel prices and government subsidies are causing car buyers in Germany to increasingly turn to electric vehicles. In September alone, 88,599 electric cars were newly registered, almost twice as many as in the previous year, as the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) announced. The vehicle market share rose to a record level of 34.5 percent and was only just below the market share of hybrid cars. Of these, almost 98,900 cars were newly registered, the proportion reaching 38.5 percent. Diesel vehicles and petrol engines, on the other hand, fell sharply.

According to the importers' association VDIK, new registrations of electric cars have totaled a good 600,000 vehicles since the beginning of the year, which is 58.1 percent more than in the previous year. VDIK President Imelda Labbe said that electromobility has reached a peak in terms of market share. "It is particularly pleasing that this development is increasingly being supported by private customers."

Overall, car sales in Germany increased by 9 percent in September, and new cars sold have increased by 5.3 percent since the beginning of the year. The main driver for the revival is significantly stronger demand from private buyers: private registrations increased by 28.5 percent in September alone and now account for a good two-fifths of total new registrations.

Government purchase premium drives demand

An important driver for the increasing demand for electric cars is the government purchase bonus, where car buyers can receive up to 6,000 euros for a new car, depending on their income. The Environment Ministry announced that 100,000 applications for this bonus had been approved by the beginning of October. Environment Minister Carsten Schneider said the funding program had far exceeded expectations. "Every additional electric car makes our country more independent of expensive oil imports and international conflicts."

According to the VDIK, however, foreign car manufacturers in particular benefited from the higher demand for electric vehicles. According to the association, they have a market share of 46 percent and have also achieved stronger growth than German manufacturers. Tesla achieved a sales increase of 268.7 percent, the Chinese manufacturer BYD sold 85.6 percent more cars and the manufacturer MG, which is part of the Chinese SAIC Group, sold 60.8 percent more.

Volkswagen, on the other hand, sold 6.1 percent fewer new cars than a year ago, and BMW and the US car manufacturer Ford also recorded losses.

New registrations of gasoline engines, on the other hand, fell sharply by around 29 percent compared to the previous year to around 44,600 cars; Their share was still 17.4 percent. The share of diesel cars in new registrations was only 9.0 percent - there were still around 23,000 cars, around 20 percent less than in September 2025.