Germany: Sales of green cars continue to decline; the high-consumption SUVs and off-road vehicles again lead the new registration statistics with a 21pct increase in registration

New cars: Sales of green efficiency classes continue to decline. dena Press release, Berlin. Jul 25 2019. https://www.dena.de/newsroom/meldungen/2019/neuwagen-absatz-gruener-effizienzklassen-geht-weiter-zurueck

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dena monitoring report: Trend towards SUVs and off-road vehicles continues uninterrupted / Average CO2 emissions increase

Despite the climate protection debate, low-emission passenger cars in the German new car market are not getting through enough to reduce CO 2 emissions in the automotive sector. The share of vehicles with the best efficiency ratings fell by around 5 percent in 2018, while the number of newly registered cars with a total of more than 3.4 million remained at the previous year's level. At the same time, the trend towards high-consumption SUVs and off-road vehicles continues unabated. These will lead to the new registration statistics in 2018 as well. This is one reason why the average CO 2 emissions of newly registered passenger cars increased by almost 2 percent. This continues the negative development in CO 2 emissions and the distribution of CO 2 efficiency classes. These are the main findings of the dena monitoring report on the development of new registrations of CO 2 -efficient passenger cars in 2018.

"In the midst of an intensely conducted social debate on climate protection, we note that sales of green efficiency classes are falling and that the average CO 2 emissions of new cars continue to increase. That should make politics, manufacturers and consumers think and be a wake-up call, "says Andreas Kuhlmann, chairman of dena's management. "In order to achieve climate protection goals in transport, framework conditions must be created urgently, which make the purchase of low-emission and emission-free vehicles attractive. At the same time, the trend towards high-consumption vehicles must be counteracted. Coupling company car taxation and the private purchase of passenger cars with their CO 2 emissions can be an effective step in this direction. However, this system should be revenue-neutral, possibly through the inclusion of bonus-penalty schemes. Also, fuels should be taxed more heavily depending on their CO 2 intensity. Because the low-consumption vehicles that are new to the market today are also a guarantee for the affordable individual mobility of the future. "

Share of energy-efficient cars drops below 70 percent
In 2018, only 69 percent of all newly registered cars belonged to one of the green efficiency classes (A +, A, B). In 2017 there were still 72.8 percent and in 2016 still 74.4 percent. The examination of new registrations by segment confirms the negative trend: in 2017, the efficiency classes A +, A and B still accounted for more than 80 percent of five segments. By 2018, the share of the hyper-midsize segment was highest at 76 percent, followed by the middle class at 71.9 percent and the upper middle class at 71.6 percent.

SUVs achieve the highest increase with 21 percent
Together, the high-consumption SUVs and off-road vehicles again lead the new registration statistics. SUVs achieve the highest increase with 21 percent, off-road vehicles only two percent. In the compact car category, the negative trend continues with a decline of another 5.9 percent (755,498 cars, down from 47,501 units compared to 2017).

CO 2 emissions and consumption: significant increase compared to the previous year
In total, newly registered passenger cars in 2018 consumed 5.7 liters of gasoline or 5.1 liters of diesel per 100 kilometers, according to the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). Thus, the average CO 2 emissions of newly registered passenger cars increased by 1.9 percent to 130.3 g CO 2 / km (2017: 127.9 g CO 2 / km). One reason for this is the high number of registrations of SUVs and off-road vehicles, which average 134.3 g CO 2 / km (2017: 133.2 g CO 2 / km) and 163.1 g CO 2 / km (2017: 159 , 2 g CO 2 / km) emitted. In addition, since 1 September 2018, the NEDC values ​​have been recalculated from the new WLTP test procedure, leading on average to increased values. The average CO 2 emissions of German new registrations, at 9.9 g CO 2 / km, once again exceed the European fleet average of 120.4 g CO 2 / km.

Trend continues in 2019
In the first five months of 2019, the segment of SUVs and off-road vehicles grew again by 17.5 or 12.7 percent. In the pan-European mix, an average emissions value of the new vehicle fleet of 95 g CO 2 / km is to be achieved in 2020. This would correspond to an average consumption of 3.6 liters of diesel or 4.1 liters of gas per 100 kilometers. In view of the increasing popularity of emission-intensive vehicles, this goal is hardly achievable, according to dena, without changing the political framework conditions and corresponding sales strategies of the manufacturers.
The monitoring report "Development of new registrations of CO 2 -efficient passenger cars 2018" was prepared by the dena initiative "Information platform car label". The basis was the current car registration data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). The fuel consumption was calculated according to the measurement cycle NEDC. The information platform Passenger Car Label is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
After switching to the new WLTP test cycle in September 2018, around 12 percent of the vehicles (407,263 cars without RVs) could not be assigned to any efficiency class. According to Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt, however, these deficits have no significant influence on the average CO 2 emissions. This effect was taken into account when calculating the figures for energy efficiency classes.

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