BMW and Mercedes deliver, but VW remains best in class
E-cars are becoming increasingly important for Germany’s major car manufacturers. Nowhere else can VW, BMW and Mercedes point to such successes. The two premium manufacturers are celebrating their successes, but they are not yet able to compete with Volkswagen.
E-car sales: VW gains with volume, Mercedes is growing fastest
A successful year lies behind VW, Mercedes and BMW, at least if you only look at the electric cars. As a volume manufacturer Volkswagen clearly ahead in pure numbers: Around 330,000 Stromer delivered the Wolfsburg company worldwide in 2022 (source: VW), a new one will soon be added to the portfolio. BMW and Mercedes cannot keep up with these quantities.
On the other hand, the premium manufacturers are showing much stronger growth in their e-cars than VW: both Munich and Stuttgart have the number of E-car sales more than doubled. At Volkswagen, on the other hand, the increase of 23.6 percent is still significant, but much lower. However, looking at these figures is distorted and comparability is only possible with reservations.
So come bmw according to their own information, an increase in e-cars of 107.7 percent in comparison to the previous year. Corresponding 215,755 electric cars (Source: bmw). The Bavarians only count pure electric cars, not plug-in hybrids. But BMW shows the figures for the entire group of companies, including Mini. VW, on the other hand, limits its figures to its main brand and comes up with a significantly lower increase.
Mercedes on the other hand, the brand with the star alone is growing even faster than BMW. According to the carmaker from Stuttgart, 2022 will be worldwide 117,800 BEVs sold, i.e. purely electric cars. This corresponds to a plus of 124 percent compared to 2021. Including the Smart brand, electric and plug-in sales at Mercedes already account for 44 percent of total sales (source: Mercedes Benz).
High prices do not make the switch easier for e-car buyers:
BMW, VW, Mercedes: German car manufacturers are running out of steam
the fundamental difficulties cannot compensate for the successes with e-cars with just three car manufacturers. VW reports a drop of 6.8 percent in sales figures, despite full order books – a sign that expensive production and a lack of supplies of raw materials and intermediate products are still causing problems.
At BMW, the minus is somewhat smaller: the Bavarians sold 4.8 percent fewer vehicles worldwide in 2022. Mercedes is the best performer, down 1 percent on the previous year. The reasons given by the Stuttgart company are ongoing semiconductor and logistics bottlenecks.
