Market shrinks, electrified cars increase

Electric models and hybrid are strong

The share of gasoline engines in new registrations at the start of the year was only 30.0 percent, with 63,358 passenger cars equipped with a gasoline drive. Compared to the previous year, the share of gasoline engines fell by 23.7 percent. With a diesel under the hood, 32,956 cars drove off the dealers' yards in January 2025. The diesel share of new registrations is 15.9 percent, 19.5 percent below the previous year.

Electric cars are starting 2025 with a clear upward trend. Here, the KBA recorded 34,498 new registrations, a market share of 16.6 percent and an increase of 53.5 percent compared to the previous year. Hybrid models were also in demand. 76,964 new registrations (+15.7%) accounted for a new registration share of 37.1%. Among them were 17,712 plug-in hybrids (+23.1%) with a share of 8.5 percent.

In 2025, gas-powered vehicles will remain in a niche. In the first month of the year, 859 liquefied gas-powered passenger cars were registered, which corresponds to a share of 0.4 percent and means a minus of 54.8 percent. Natural gas and hydrogen vehicles, on the other hand, were not registered.

The most important details of the new registrations in 2025:

• Share of gasoline engines: 30.0 % (-23.7 %)
• Share of diesel: 15.9% (- 19.5%)
• Hybrid share: 37.1% (+15.7%)
• Share of electric: 16.6 % (+ 53.5 %)
• Share of liquefied natural gas vehicles: 0.4% (- 54.8%)
• Share of natural gas vehicles: 0.0 % (n/a)
• CO₂ emissions: 113.6 g/km according to WLTP (- 9.5%)

Segment development in 2024

There is no way around SUVs in 2025 either. With a share of 30.6 percent, most new cars were attributable to SUVs (+5.9 percent). Despite a decline of -16.6 percent, the compact class achieved a share of 17.4 percent, making it the second-strongest segment ahead of off-road vehicles (13.4 %/-2.5 percent) and small cars (10.9 percent/-7.5 percent). The upper mid-size class (5.3%/+98.8%), on the other hand, recorded the most gains, followed by utilities (5.4%/+36.6%) and minivans (0.9%/+6.7%). By contrast, the Minis (2.2%/-40.3%), Sports Cars (0.7%/-35.4%), Midsize (7.7%/-18.8%), Full-Size (0.7%/-17.5%), Motorhomes (1.7%/-3.6%) and MPVs (2.4%/-3.4%) segments were down on the same month a year earlier.

Brand Ranking: Winners and Losers

Among the German brands, VW (+11.6%/22.3%), Ford (+3.9%/3.7%), Mini (+3.8%/1.1%), BMW (+0.9%/7.8%) and MAN (+28.9%) achieved increases in registrations, with MAN accounting for a share of 0.1% with 107 new cars. The other German brands recorded declines compared to the same month last year, with Smart (-58.5%/0.2%), Opel (-45.1%/3.3%) and Porsche (-37.2%/1.1%) being the most significant. Mercedes (-7.5%/9.5%) and Audi (-5.1%/7.1%) suffered single-digit declines. With 22.3 percent, VW was the German brand with the highest share.

Among the import brands with at least five-digit new registrations, Seat grew most significantly with +37.5 percent and a share of 6.7 percent compared to the same month last year. Skoda, on the other hand, was down -1.0 percent on the same month last year, but was the import brand with the largest share with 8.0 percent. With more than 4,000 new registrations, the higher-volume import brands Renault (+38.1%/2.0%), Volvo (+33.0%/2.6%), Kia (+2.5%/2.4%) and Peugeot (+1.5%/2.4%) also recorded an increase in new registrations. In contrast, Hyundai (-5.2%/3.0%), Dacia (-13.6%/2.8%) and Toyota (-19.0%/2.6%) recorded declines.

Used car market with positive development

The used car market can continue the positive trend from the previous year in January 2025. At the start of the year, 637,618 motor vehicles (motor vehicles) changed hands, which corresponds to an increase of 7.4 percent compared to the same month last year. In the case of passenger cars (passenger cars), the KBA recorded a total of 563,539 transfers of ownership in January 2025, which corresponds to an increase of 6.9 percent compared to the same month last year.