New cars are way too expensive
Like many other things, the prices for new cars only know one direction: upwards. But buying a car has been getting more and more expensive for a long time. The ADAC has calculated how deep car buyers have to dig into their pockets today. It is noticeable that customers have to pay significantly higher prices than the manufacturers can justify.
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44 percent more: Customers must first be able to afford new cars
Purchase prices for new cars in Germany have risen by up to 44 percent over the past five years. This emerges from an investigation by the ADAC. The automobile club has compared the end customer prices for several vehicles in different classes. On average were new cars bought from 2017 to July 2022 by 19 percent more expensive.
There are several reasons for the price development: According to the experts from the Automobile Club, the shortage of chips and the general disruption in the supply chains have resulted in a narrow supply during the corona pandemic. That again have a negative impact on purchase prices – from the customer’s point of view.
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According to the ADAC, manufacturers and dealers are also offering due to the reduced availability fewer discounts and promotions offered that make the purchase more affordable for customers. On top of that, there is a trick used by the car manufacturers, which has ensured record profits in recent years despite problems with supplies: more expensive models and more expensive special equipment have been offered preferentially.
Often the Basic version of popular cars deleted, which greatly increases the starting price. As an example, the ADAC refers to the VW Golf: in 2021, the 90 hp base model was offered for 20,700 euros. Currently there is no smaller version than with a 130 hp engine. This new basic version only starts at 29,560 euros.
Purchase prices for e-cars are also rising instead of falling:
ADAC calls on car manufacturers to act
These steps – not only by VW – are not caused by external factors such as the supply chains. Therefore, the observations of the ADAC are also an announcement to the manufacturers. The Automobile Club calls on manufacturers to bring back cheaper basic versions“so that people with limited financial resources can also afford a new vehicle”.
The economic situation also points in this direction: energy costs, for example, mean that in many German households nothing is left over from the monthly income. If car manufacturers want to sell large numbers again in the medium term, prices cannot continue to rise as they have been up to now.
