FRANKFURT -- Demand for full-electric cars surged in Germany last year to capture almost a fifth of sales in Europe's biggest market.
At 17.7 percent, the market share for battery-electric cars was narrowly behind the share of diesel cars at 17.8 percent, according to data from the KBA motor transport authority. Plug-in hybrid cars accounted for 13.7 percent of the market while gasoline cars at 32.6 percent had the largest share.
Overall registrations of new cars rose 1.1 percent to 2.65 million.
The Polestar electric brand had strong growth with sales up 166 percent. Tesla's registrations grew by 76 percent.
VW was Germany's best-selling brand last year despite a 1.8 percent drop in registrations. Mercedes-Benz, whose registrations increased 8.3 percent, was No. 2. Audi took third position with a 17 percent volume rise. BMW brand, whose sales fell 5.7 percent, was in fourth place. Opel was No. 5. Its registrations fell 11 percent.
- Download PDF here for German sales by brand in December/ full year
In December, total market registrations increased 38 percent to 314,318.
