Enlarge image
VW models at the Shanghai auto show: good numbers from China
Photo: Ng Han Guan / AP
Nowhere in the world are there as many electric cars on the road as in China. The People's Republic is correspondingly important for manufacturers. According to an analysis by management consultancy PwC, German car manufacturers have made up ground in electric cars in China. In the largest sales market, they sold 49 percent more electric cars last year than the previous year, growing twice as fast as the overall market.
As PwC announced, German manufacturers grew almost three times as fast as the Chinese market in the fourth quarter, with an increase of 63 percent. Their market share increased by one percentage point to 5 percent in 2023.
According to PwC, German manufacturers worldwide increased sales of their purely electric cars by 47 percent, increasing their global market share by two points to 14 percent.
Used electric vehicles are becoming more interesting for German buyers
However, e-mobility lost momentum on the German market: “Over the year, Germany even fell behind the EU average with 11 percent BEV growth,” it said. BEV stands for Battery Electric Vehicle, i.e. purely electrically powered vehicles.
Industry observers write that it is now also worthwhile for buyers in Germany to take a look at the used electric car market. According to PwC, three-year-old electric cars are on average ten percent cheaper than combustion engines. “Almost all manufacturers now offer an eight-year guarantee for the problem child battery, which prevents many from buying a used BEV,” said PwC strategy & industry expert Jörn Neuhausen. Since there are now 1.2 million electric vehicles on the road, the supply of used vehicles is increasing.
mmq/dpa