New-car registrations in Germany rose by 2.7% year on year in April, reaching 249,163 units, with private buyers helping drive this growth. According to KBA data, registrations in this sector climbed by 8.2% to 88,182 units.
Private buyers accounted for 35.4% of the market last month, compared to the commercial sector’s dominant 64.6% share. The commercial sector’s 0.2% decline had a bigger impact on the overall market’s performance.
Varying results were seen across different passenger car segments in April. SUVs, the most popular body type, saw a 13.5% increase in registrations. The compact class was the second-best-selling sector, despite a 12.9% decline.
Between January and April, the entire new-car market grew by 4.5% to 948,567 units. Germany has experienced only one monthly decline in 2026, and only two drops in the last 12 months.
Private demand has also increased in the battery-electric vehicle market, influenced by a growing range of model choices for buyers and rising fuel prices. Battery-electric vehicles took a 25.8% share in April, up from 18.8% at the same time last year.
With 64,350 deliveries, battery-electric vehicles saw a surge of 41.3% year on year. They were the country’s second most popular powertrain in the month, 4.4 percentage points ahead of petrol in third.
The technology was just 2.4 percentage points behind the market share of hybrids, made up of full and mild versions. It also marked one of the largest shares for battery-electric vehicles, alongside August 2023 and December 2022.
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As more private buyers opt for battery-electric vehicles, the technology’s slice of the new-car market continues to improve. Battery-electric vehicle performance is becoming more important to wider new-car market growth.
Excluding the powertrain from last month’s figures results in a 6.3% year-on-year decline. Battery-electric vehicles recorded the same 41.3% year-on-year improvement between January and April, equating to 223,980 units.
Private buyers are driving the demand for new cars in Germany. VDIK president Imelda Labbé explained that private customers are now relying on battery-electric vehicles to the same extent as fleet customers have done in the past.
The shift towards electric vehicles is being driven by a combination of factors, including government incentives and growing consumer demand. As the market continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how different powertrains and brands perform.
In the first four months of 2026, hybrid registrations rose by 6.6% to 276,773 units. The technology represented 29.2% of overall volumes, up from 28.6%. Adding hybrids to the electric vehicle total, the electrified market continued to tighten its grip on new-car sales.
The electrified market made up 65.1% of deliveries in April, thanks to a 18.1% rise in volumes. In the year-to-date, electrified volumes increased by 19.4%, as the grouping accounted for 63.7% of the market total.
Germany’s new-car market is also influenced by trends in other countries, such as electric car sales in France.