Industry: German EV sales need to jump 75% to hit EU fleet targets

In order to comply with stricter CO2 emissions limits for new car fleets in the European Union, Germany's automotive industry believes that a significant ramp-up in electric cars will be needed this year.

Manuel Kallweit, chief economist from the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA) lobby group, said on Tuesday in Berlin that sales of battery-powered vehicles alone would have to increase by around 75% compared to the previous year.

The increase would work out to sales of around 666,000 additional all-electric vehicles.

VDA forecasts, however, actually indicate that sales of electric vehicles fell by 9% in 2024, Kallweit said.

Partially electric vehicles, such as plug-in hybrids, would also need to see year-on-year growth of around 53%, Kallweit said.

Under current EU law, car manufacturers could face high fines beginning in 2025 due to stricter CO2 fleet limits.

The VDA expects a total of around 2.8 million new cars to be produced in Germany in 2025, roughly the same as in 2024 but around a quarter less than in 2019, the last year before the coronavirus pandemic massively disrupted the automotive industry.