Auto Registrations: Massive Increase in E-Cars

"The Austrian new car market started the new year rapidly in January, declined in February, and did not make any progress in March compared to the previous year," said Statistics Austria Director General Tobias Thomas regarding the development of new car registrations this year. Particularly noticeable is the decline in new registrations of diesel cars, which fell by 32.7 percent. For gasoline-powered vehicles, the decline compared to the first quarter of 2024 was 4.5 percent.

New Car Registrations: Two Out of Three New Cars Bought by Companies

Two out of three newly registered cars from January to March of this year were bought by companies. For gasoline-powered cars, the share of private vehicle owners was 40.2 percent, new diesel cars were registered by private individuals at 21.1 percent, and new electric cars at 27.6 percent. For gasoline hybrid cars and diesel hybrids, this share was 42.7 and 22.8 percent, respectively, according to Statistics Austria on Wednesday.

The most popular car brands from January to March 2025 were VW, Skoda, and BMW, with the largest increases seen in Cupra, Renault, and Audi. In contrast, new registrations declined for Seat, Toyota, and Mercedes. And how did Tesla fare? CEO Elon Musk sold 1,304 cars in Austria from January to March, with 815 of those in March alone.

The commercial vehicle market was consistently declining, with a decrease of up to 20 percent, and for tractors, the decrease was 10 percent. Compared to the first quarter of the previous year, there were 41 percent fewer new registrations of mopeds, and for motorcycles, the decrease was 23.2 percent. A decline of 33 percent was recorded for motorhomes.

New Car Registrations for March

A look at March shows that the momentum in the car market has noticeably slowed. Here, the registration increase was only 1 percent. For Tesla, the registration decrease was even 34.2 percent. However, the decrease for Seat was even larger, and even Mercedes had to cope with a 10 percent decrease in new registrations, with Kia and Hyundai experiencing even more. And: Behind the Golf, Octavia, Duster, and X1, the Model Y was the most newly registered car model this year. Among electric cars, Tesla was also the market leader in Austria in March. Elon Musk sold 815 cars in Austria in March, compared to 789 for runner-up BMW and 649 for third-placed VW. But here too, the medal has two sides: While the two German competitors significantly increased, the US competitor experienced a sales decrease of 34.2 percent.

And something else is interesting in the registration statistics: The Chinese manufacturer BYD, until recently completely unknown in this country, ranks number 2 among electric models with the Sealion model, behind the Tesla Model Y. BYD thus leaves the Renault R5 and BMW X1 behind. The commercial vehicle market, which is also a reliable economic indicator, dramatically declined in March. For small trucks, which are preferred by parcel delivery services, there was a decrease of 27 percent. For tractor units, which are mainly used in transit, the decline was 24.6 percent. Motorhomes, which were selling like hotcakes during the Corona times, saw new registrations plummet by 45.5 percent.

(APA/Red)

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