Germany’s electric-vehicle sales slumped in July, extending a broad pullback since incentives ended late last year and undermining automakers’ plans in the EV shift.
Registrations of battery-powered cars fell 37% in Europe’s biggest auto market to 30,762 vehicles compared to a year ago, Germany’s federal motor transport authority KBA said Monday. It’s the biggest drop since December when the German government suddenly scrapped EV subsidies. Sales of vehicles without a plug gained 7%.
The broad EV slowdown across Europe wherever incentives are removed is leaving carmakers like Volkswagen AG wrong footed on production plans while the overall shift is stumbling. Well-off and eco-conscious buyers are more or less tapped out, and the industry’s lack of affordable battery models is cutting mass-market consumers out of the market.
