Fuel cars have fallen out of favor in Germany, where electric vehicles accounted for 55% of sales in December

CTOnews.com As Europe's largest car market, Germany has long been a stronghold for brands such as Volkswagen, Mercedes, Audi and BMW. However, the electrification trend in the German car market has shifted, with plug-in electric vehicles accounting for more than half of sales for the first time in December.

Specifically, in December, plug-in cars accounted for 55.4% of passenger car sales in Germany for the month, pure electric vehicles accounted for one third (33.2%), and plug-in hybrid vehicles accounted for one fifth (22.2%). Plug-in hybrids accounted for 12.8 percent, while sales of purely internal combustion vehicles fell below a third (31.8 percent) for the first time.

CTOnews.com understands that overall car sales in Germany in December were 314,318 units, up about 38% from December 2021. Total German car sales in 2022 were 2.65 million units, up only 1.1% from 2021. The overall best-selling car (of any type) in December was the Tesla Model 3 with 9,566 registrations.

For the whole of 2022, the share of German plug-in cars reached 31.4%, up from 26.0% in 2021. The share of pure electric cars increased from 13.6% to 17.7%, with total sales reaching 470,592 units, an increase of 32.2% over sales for the whole of 2021, and if this growth rate is maintained, the share of pure electric cars in Germany will reach 50% by 2026 and nearly 90% by 2028.

Tesla Model 3 was the best-selling model in Germany in December, Model Y was second and Volkswagen ID.4 / ID.5 was third. For all of 2022, Tesla Model Y is the best-selling model, Model 3 is second, Fiat 500E is third, and Volkswagen ID.4 / ID.5 is fourth.