May 2018: The best-selling electric cars in Germany were the Renault Zoe, VW Golf and Kia Soul with Renault, Volkswagen and Smart the top-selling electric car brands.
January to May 2018: Weak registrations for the electric Smart Fortwo finally allowed the Volkswagen Golf to take the lead as Germany’s most-popular electric car. Thus far in 2018, the electric VW Golf is narrowly ahead of the Renault Zoe followed by the Kia Soul and Smart Fortwo. Despite weak sales in May, Smart remained Germany’s leading electric car brand over the first five months of the year. Volkswagen remained the second most-popular electric car brand in Germany followed by Renault, Kia and BMW.
Electric Car Market in Germany in 2018
May 2018 was a very weak month for electric car sales in Germany both in terms of overall numbers and market share. Only 2,310 electric cars were registered for on-road use in Germany during May 2018 – by far the weakest month this year.
The market share of electric cars also slipped to only 0.76% in May 2018 compared to around 1% for the first four months of the year.
Compared to May 2017, the number of electric cars registered in Germany in May 2018 increased by 52%.
Total new passenger vehicle registrations in Germany in May 2018 decreased by 5.8% to 305,057. Of these, 64% (+6%) had petrol engines while 31% (-27.2%) used diesel. 10,299 hybrids (+50.5%), including 2,465 plug-in hybrids (+6.1%), were registered in Germany in May 2018.
Best-Selling Electric Car Brands in Germany in 2018
New passenger vehicle registration data released by the KBA identified the following as the top-selling electric car brands in Germany in May and the first five months of 2018:
| 1-5/2018 | Brand | May 2018 | Jan – May 2018 |
| Â | All Electric Cars | 2,310 | 14,583 |
| Â | Share of Total Car Market | 0.76% | 0.97% |
| Â | Â | Â | Â |
| 1 | SMART | 323 | 3,328 |
| 2 | VW | 442 | 2,721 |
| 3 | RENAULT | 507 | 2,226 |
| 4 | KIA | 237 | 1,908 |
| 5 | BMW | 226 | 1,352 |
| 6 | TESLA | 200 | 972 |
| 7 | NISSAN | 144 | 818 |
| 8 | HYUNDAI | 98 | 560 |
| 9 | OPEL | 23 | 284 |
| 10 | AUDI | 25 | 118 |
| 11 | MERCEDES | 35 | 73 |
| 12 | CITROEN | 14 | 49 |
| 13 | PEUGEOT | 13 | 36 |
| 14 | JAGUAR | 2 | 33 |
| 15 | FORD | 0 | 17 |
| 16 | MITSUBISHI | 3 | 10 |
| 17 | HONDA | 0 | 5 |
| 18 | PORSCHE | 0 | 1 |
| Â | Source: KBA | Â | Â |
Top-Selling Electric Carmakers in Germany in 2018
In May 2018, Renault, for the first time this year, was the top-selling electric car brand in Germany – a position it held over the full calendar year 2017. Renault was the only top-five electric car brand in Germany with higher sales in May than in April 2018. VW and Smart maintained their second and third places while Kia slipped from the leading brand in April to only fourth in May 2018.
In May 2018, BMW was again the fifth best-selling electric car brand in Germany. Tesla moved ahead of Nissan with Tesla sales nearly double that of April while Nissan sales halved. Hyundai was in eighth place. Mercedes-Benz shot into the top ten from 18th in April but numbers are fairly insignificant. Jaguar dropped from tenth in April to only 15th in May with only two new registrations.
The sales rank order of top ten electric car brands in Germany for the first five months of 2018 remained unchanged from a month ago. Smart leads VW followed by Renault, Kia, BMW and Tesla.
Best-Selling Electric Car Models in Germany in 2018
According to the KBA the following where the top-selling electric car models in Germany in May 2018 and the first five months of 2018:
| May | Brand | Model | May 2018 | Jan-May 2018 |
| Â | Total Electric Market | Â | 2,310 | 14,583 |
| 1 | Renault | Zoe | 507 | 2,226 |
| 2 | VW | Golf | 366 | 2,271 |
| 3 | Kia | Soul | 231 | 1,899 |
| 4 | BMW | I3 | 226 | 1,352 |
| 5 | Smart | Forfour | 201 | 1,259 |
| 6 | Nissan | Leaf | 129 | 765 |
| 7 | Smart | Fortwo | 122 | 2,069 |
| 8 | Tesla | Model S | 112 | 656 |
| 9 | Hyundai | Ioniq | 98 | 553 |
| 10 | Tesla | Model X | 88 | 315 |
| 11 | VW | Up | 76 | 448 |
| 12 | Mercedes-Benz | B-Class | 34 | 72 |
| 13 | Opel | Ampera | 23 | 284 |
| 14 | Nissan | NV200 | 15 | 53 |
| 15 | Citroen | C-Zero | 12 | 38 |
| 16 | Peugeot | Ion | 11 | 34 |
| 17 | Jaguar | I-Pace | 2 | 33 |
| 18 | Ford | Focus | 0 | 17 |
| Â | Source: KBA | Â | Â | Â |
Top-Selling Electric Car Models in Germany in 2018
In May 2018, the Renault Zoe lead the sales ranks of electric cars in Germany for the first time since 2017. The Zoe was the only top four electric car model with higher sales in Germany in May 2018 compared to April 2018. Thus far in 2018, the Zoe has been the second most-popular electric car model in Germany.
The VW Golf was again the second best-selling electric car in Germany in 2018 but due to very weak Smart Fortwo sales, the electric Golf took the lead over the first five months of 2018.
Electric Kia Soul sales in Germany were down by almost 500 units in May 2018 compared to April. The Soul slipped from first to third. The BMW i3 was fourth for the second consecutive month but sales were also sharply down.
Electric Smart Forfour sales were up in May from the previous month allowing the Forfour to move ahead of the Nissan Leaf with sales more than halved from a month ago. Weak registrations in May 2018 saw the Smart Fortwo losing it position as Germany’s favorite electric car thus far in 2018 to the VW Golf and the Renault Zoe.
Tesla Model S and Model X sales in May 2018 were sharply up in Germany compared to April while Hyundai Ioniq sales were stable.
Jaguar i-Pace registrations were down from 31 in April 2018 to only 2 in May 2018. The KBA figures are for cars registered for the first time for use on public roads in Germany and thus include demonstrations models and research vehicles rather than only final sales to consumers.
