
Germany’s new automobile market as-a-whole continued to wrestle by means of the top of the primary quarter, however you’d by no means realize it from taking a look at EV gross sales. At the same time as Tesla’s fortunes proceed to say no, EV gross sales shot up greater than 35% yr over yr – now approaching 17% of the market, and that’s WITHOUT authorities incentives!
Spanish media outlet Motorpasión is reporting that Germany’s Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (or KBA; type of just like the American Nationwide Freeway Visitors and Security Administration, NHTSA) says electrical automobiles already make up 17% of all new automobile registrations within the European nation. And that EV market share is accelerating, regardless of the cancelation of presidency EV subsidies in late 2023.
On the identical time, Tesla – whose Mannequin Y electrical crossover was, at one level, the best-selling automobile on the earth – is watching its gross sales tank globally. That’s very true in Germany, the place the American EV model noticed a 70% drop in gross sales by means of the primary two months of the yr, YOY, and a few 94% of survey respondents (allegedly) mentioned they wouldn’t purchase a Tesla.
All of which begs the query: what provides?
Pull-ahead EV gross sales + Elon’s Musk

The primary a part of this two-part reply includes German EV subsidies. The nation’s authorities issued a €4,500 subsidy for the acquisition of a brand new EV with a sub-€40,000 listing value (€3,000 for €40-65,000 automobiles). That often-criticized program was at all times supposed to be non permanent, nevertheless, and after EV gross sales reached a million models the subsidy was canceled for enterprise prospects in September in 2023 and personal people the top of December.
The results of that cancellation was a major drop in new EV gross sales in 2024 vs. ’23 – however that’s simply defined by “pull-ahead” gross sales pushed by the data that the federal government subsidy can be ending quickly. And, positive, you don’t see the type of spikes you see within the US when individuals who don’t perceive primary financial ideas or what tariffs are immediately achieve political energy, however that has as a lot to do with the way in which automobiles are offered in Europe as the rest.
In Europe, automobile patrons usually go to sellers to have a look at choices and options and work with their salespeople to put an order for a brand new automobile. The automobile is constructed to their custom-made specs, and the shopper waits wherever 3-4 months for supply. There is no such thing as a, “What’s it gonna take so that you can drive certainly one of these residence, at this time?” in different phrases.
That’s half one.
The second half is the overwhelming stink of Elon Musk (see what I did there?). The Tesla CEO’s passionate embrace of the alt-right and even far-right political motion mixed with not one however two “Roman” salutes at Trump’s inauguration (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) have turned the model’s electrical automobiles into political statements, whether or not their house owners wished that or not – and plenty of are buying and selling out of their Teslas a lot sooner than they’d initially deliberate in favor of a automobile that’s much less politically charged.
What autos are they shopping for? I’ve put collectively a listing of the best-selling EVs in Germany to date this yr, together with hyperlinks to native low cost and 0% offers on those which can be accessible stateside. Check out quantity 7 (How the mighty have fallen!), then tell us the way you assume the German EV standings will look in December within the feedback.
Ten best-selling EVs in Germany
- Volkswagen ID.7 (proven, at prime) 9,336 models
- Volkswagen ID.4/ID.5 7,778 models (accessible in US)
- Škoda Enyaq 7,393 models
- Volkswagen ID.3 6,174 models
- Cupra Born with 5,241 models
- Audi This autumn e-tron 3,906 models (accessible in US)
- Tesla Mannequin Y 3,442 models (accessible in US)
- BMW i4 2,859 models (accessible in US)
- Cupra Tavascan 2,822 models
- BMW iX 2,797 models (accessible in US)
SOURCES: KBA, through Motorpasión.

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