MUNICH (dpa-AFX) - According to an analysis by management consultants PwC, German car manufacturers have made up ground with electric cars. In China, the largest sales market, they sold 49 percent more e-cars last year than in the previous year and thus grew twice as fast as the overall market, as PwC announced on Wednesday. In the fourth quarter, German manufacturers even grew almost three times as fast as the Chinese market with an increase of 63 percent. Their market share increased by one percentage point to 5 percent in 2023.

According to PwC, German manufacturers increased sales of their pure e-cars by 47% worldwide, increasing their global market share by two points to 14%. In the domestic market, however, e-mobility lost momentum: "Over the year as a whole, Germany even fell behind the EU average with 11% BEV growth." BEV stands for Battery Electric Vehicle, i.e. purely electrically powered vehicles.

For buyers in Germany, it is now also worth taking a look at the BEV used car market. According to PwC, three-year-old electric vehicles are on average 10 percent cheaper than combustion engines. "Almost all manufacturers now offer an eight-year warranty for the problem child battery, which is putting many people off buying a used BEV," said PwC strategy & industry expert Jorn Neuhausen. As there are now 1.2 million BEVs on the road, the supply of used BEVs is increasing./rol/DP/zb