For a good month now, the purchase of electric cars has been subsidized with an increased premium. The grant is up to 6000 euros. Initial evaluations show that at least more people are considering an electric car as a result.
The purchase premium for electric cars and plug-in hybrids, which increased at the beginning of June, provides a strong boost when interested in cars with these drive technologies. Evaluations by the two major online new car brokers Carwow and Meinauto show that demand has increased significantly. However, the development is not yet reflected in the number of admissions and applications for funding from the Federal Office of Economics and Export Control, which may be due to the months of delivery times.
At Carwow, the share of pure electric cars in the configurations on the homepage more than doubled from May to June. Hybrids are also attracting, if not quite as strongly. Meinauto also has a corresponding boom in interest in e-cars and hybrids, with the share doubling from May to June. "We see a clear effect of the environmental bonus on the demand for electric vehicles," says managing director Marco Steinfatt. After the higher premium came into force, the demand "rose by leaps and bounds".
By contrast, Thomas Peckruhn, Vice President of the Central Association of the German Motor Vehicle Trade and Skoda Dealer, has not yet noticed a major surge in electric cars due to the increased premium. However, according to him, there are differences between the individual brands – which is also due to the fact that not all brands have sufficiently large contingents of electric cars.
VAT reduction is noticeable
Peckruhn's VAT cut, from which vehicles of all drive types benefit, is significantly more optimistic for the car trade. This is "very present" with customers, he says. Overall, incoming orders have now stabilized significantly. "Many colleagues say:" We are back at flight level. "" However, it will take some time before this is reflected in the number of new registrations due to the delivery times for cars. In June, the total number of new registrations was just under a third lower than in the same month of the previous year.
The new increased purchase premium for electric cars has been in effect since June 3. It can consist of a grant of up to 6,000 euros from the state and a discount of up to 3,000 euros from the manufacturer. A total of 8,234 applications for the bonus were made throughout June, a good 500 more than in May. The most common issue was VW cars with 1125 applications in June, ahead of Mercedes with 926 and Audi with 918. Renault was fourth with 874 applications, ahead of BMW with 797.
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