Who would have thunk it: Germany, where drivers allegedly love their car more than their significant other, the country where a true car guy has, in local parlance, “Benzin im Blut” (= gasoline running through the veins) has become ground zero for battery-operated vehicles. In August, nearly 15% of all newly registered passenger vehicles were of the BEV variety, the country’s transportation administration KBA said. Another 13% were plug-in-hybrids, bringing the total of cars with a plug to nearly 30%. If plug-ins maintain their steep trajectory (BEVs were up nearly 80% YOY in August) they could soon become Germany’s best-selling segment.
Despite Tesla’s heroic effort (the company registered 3,810 vehicle in August vs. a paltry 489 in the prior month) the country’s OEMs refuse to be disrupted. BEVs are dominated by dinosaurs like the Volkswagen Group with a YTD market share of 36%, Stellantis (13%) and Korea’s Hyundai Group (11%.) Tesla remains below a 10% share of a BEV market it had dreamt to monopolize. With 2/3 of the year behind us, Tesla has registered only 18,000 units in a country where it is building a 500,000 unit car factory.
