Car buyers in Germany are now getting big discounts on new cars again. This applies to electric cars and even more so to combustion engines, as a current evaluation by the Car Institute Duisburg shows. The trend is likely to strengthen in the coming months.
In Germany, electric cars are up to 25 percent more expensive than comparable combustion vehicles, the experts wrote. In January, manufacturers granted an average discount of 13.6 percent for the 30 electric cars with the highest number of registrations – and even 17.1 percent for the 30 combustion engines with the highest number of registrations. “This was certainly just the beginning of making the market more attractive for private customers.”
The manufacturers had taken the state environmental bonus for electric cars into account in their sales planning for 2024 and were now trying to compensate for the bonus that was abruptly canceled by the federal government with their own discounts and price reductions. The price pressure is being increased by Tesla and the Chinese manufacturers MG and BYD, who want to secure market shares in Germany. In some cases, the discounts, switching bonuses and price reductions are even higher than the environmental bonus.
“The e-car market is like a cauldron! Anyone who doesn’t start reducing prices has a high risk of losing market share,” the report says.
According to ADAC, Dacia is currently offering a 10,000 euro discount on the Spring Electric model. “The small electric car therefore only costs 12,750 euros.” VW grants discounts of between 4,760 and 7,735 euros on the ID models 3, 4, 5 and 7. Renault has reduced the list price of the Mégane E-Tech by 6,400 to 7,200 euros. BYD has reduced the list price of five models “and is also offering generous discounts in some cases”. There are also bargains at Fiat, Smart, GWM, Polestar, Nissan and Tesla.
The general reluctance to buy is more evident in the generally more expensive electric cars, wrote the car industry experts. Interest in combustion engines is growing again, accompanied by discount campaigns. “We expect this trend to continue in the coming months, with discounts increasing to up to 18 or more percent.”
The changes were particularly clear at the Stellantis brand Opel: Here the discounts increased by 1 to 2 percentage points at the beginning of January. For some models they are currently 6 points higher than in December. With around 25 percent off the list price, the Cupra Formentor, the Skoda Karoq and the Renault Techno currently have the highest discounts in the top 30 list.
