By Frank Kamuntu
In Germany, around 100,000 electric cars that have already been produced are said to be sitting in stockpiles, despite the fact that exports increased significantly last year. This is the result of an analysis by car experts from Chemnitz.
Automotive researcher Werner Olle has discovered that around 100,000 electric cars are temporarily parked in car parks near factories, dealerships or ports across Germany. According to Olle, this applies to vehicles from German manufacturers as well as imports. 2023 saw a record number of unsold vehicles. The analyst cites the abrupt end of the electric car subsidy in December as the reason for this.
It is well known that stockpiling production costs manufacturers dearly. In many cases, the backlog can only be reduced with discounts. Recently, there have been more and more reports of electric cars waiting in the wings – such as BYD at the harbour in Bremerhaven or Tesla at the former military airport in Brandenburg. There have also been an increasing number of announcements from OEMs that they are reducing capacity in vehicle plants or postponing product launches.
These reactions are primarily triggered by weakening domestic demand, although the mood is also becoming increasingly subdued internationally. Things were still going relatively well in 2023. The Federal Statistical Office reported in May that exports of electric cars from Germany rose by 58 per cent last year. Specifically, 786,000 BEVs worth 36 billion euros were exported. This means that every fourth new car sold abroad from Germany had a purely electric drive.
