inari

Summary: Sales of pure Electric cars have overtaken sales of purely petrol cars in Germany in March, following incentives and oil crisis

Pure electric car registrations in Germany rose 66% year-on-year in March to nearly 71,000 units, pushing their market share to 24% and edging ahead of petrol cars, which fell 5% to 67,000 (a 23% share). The milestone reflects two concurrent drivers: a new government subsidy programme targeting lower-income buyers launched at the start of 2026, and a sharp oil price spike driven by the Iran war that has significantly boosted consumer interest in EVs — though that demand will take months to fully show up in registration data given delivery wait times.

Hybrids dominated overall with a 40% share (~118,000 units, up 16%), while diesel continued its decline to ~38,000 units (13% share). Private car purchases grew particularly strongly, trimming the company car share to 65%. Tesla staged a notable recovery — sales more than quadrupled to over 9,000 after price cuts, following the reputational hit from Elon Musk's political activities. EV sales remain well below the government's target of 15 million EVs on the road by 2030.