Sales of plug-in hybrid and full-electric cars helped to boost German vehicle sales in May, according to figures from the KBA federal motor transport authority.
About 26,800 passenger cars with battery-electric drivetrains were newly registered, up 380 percent, and around 27,200 new plug-in hybrids, up 300 percent, were sold, the KBA said in a statement on Thursday.
A total of 230,635 new passenger cars were registered in Germany during the month, up 37 percent from May 2020, when the market fell by nearly half from May 2019 due to the pandemic.
Smart and Seat showed the biggest sales increases, up 481 percent and 113 percent respectively. Mini had a good month, with registrations up 92 percent. BMW brand was up 92 percent.
Among other brands with big increases were Skoda and Kia, both up 56 percent; VW, up 53 percent; Hyundai, up 51 percent; Opel, up 42 percent; and Toyota up 39 percent.
The biggest monthly losers were Honda, with sales down 27 percent; Jaguar, down 23 percent; Mitsubishi, down 15 percent; and Mercedes-Benz, down 15 percent.
Almost a quarter of new registrations were vehicles from the SUV segment, while the compact class accounted for 17.4 percent of sales.
Gasoline engines remained the most common fuel type, accounting for 37.7 percent of registrations, up 1.1 percent, followed by diesels, which accounted for 22.3 percent, down 3.3 percent from the same month last year. Plug-in hybrids had an 11.8 percent share and full EVs had an 11.6 percent share.
