The PremiumZulasser eG and its 55 member companies across Germany are expecting a significant increase in the number of new registrations of battery-powered cars and plug-in hybrids in the remaining weeks of the current year.

Premium registrations expect a hot end-of-year spurt

Köln. The PremiumZulasser eG and its 55 member companies across Germany are expecting a significant increase in the number of new registrations of battery-powered passenger cars and plug-in hybrids in the remaining weeks of the current year. The reason: State subsidies for plug-in hybrids expire at the end of the year. At the same time, the innovation premium for battery-powered vehicles will drop from the current maximum of 6,000 euros to a maximum of 4,500 euros. The federal government will only support buyers of a new plug-in hybrid up to 30 December with up to 4,500 euros.

Despite massive criticism from manufacturers and retailers, the government in Berlin is sticking to the regulation. “In the future, we will be more ambitious in terms of funding in order to give electromobility a further boost and strengthen climate protection,” argued the responsible Federal Minister Robert Habeck. “Disappointment is programmed for many new car customers. This applies in particular to those who have decided to buy a plug-in hybrid,” says Florian Cichon, CEO of PremiumZulasser eG.

Due to the supply chain problems, many new e-cars would be delivered later than expected. Since the day of the first registration is decisive for the granting of the environmental bonus, the manufacturers would certainly do everything in their power to deliver as many electric vehicles as possible by the end of the year. This poses great challenges for trade, registration and road traffic authorities.

“In the months of the year with the highest number of registrations, up to 44,000 battery-powered cars and 32,000 plug-in hybrids were newly registered on the road. We do not rule out that these figures could be exceeded despite the public holiday situation in December and we are able to react quickly and flexibly to larger volumes,” says Cichon. However, this presupposes that the registration offices also adjust their capacities and maintain their operations between Christmas and New Year. “We hope that the road traffic authorities will follow suit, so that as many new car buyers as possible benefit from the state environmental bonus,” said the head of premium vehicle registration. After all, it is a matter of having or not having a few thousand euros for those affected.