Electric boom is driving Austria’s car market to record levels

“The upward trend has been going on for a year and continues to gain momentum,” says Manuela Lenk, Director General of Statistics Austria. In June alone, registrations climbed by almost 23 percent. A law that requires four new assistance systems from July 7th may have persuaded many buyers to act quickly.

Electric and hybrid are displacing combustion engines

The triumph of alternative drives is dramatic: 107,836 cars with electric or hybrid drives were registered – an increase of 27 percent. Their market share is now 65.5 percent. Petrol hybrids grew particularly strongly: with 60,910 new registrations, they grew by a third.

There were 40,060 new registrations of purely electric cars, a quarter more than in the previous year. Tesla leads the electric car rankings, closely followed by Skoda, BMW and the Chinese newcomer BYD. The latter recorded the strongest growth of all brands with a plus of 77 percent.

The losers: Diesel cars fell by 8.3 percent, diesel hybrids by almost eleven percent. Petrol engines stagnated at 40,509 new registrations – minus 0.1 percent.

Company cars dominate the market

Almost two thirds of all new cars are registered by companies and local authorities. In the case of diesel cars, the company’s share is even 81 percent. Private individuals are more likely to choose petrol engines (40 percent private share) or petrol hybrids (39.5 percent). 34 percent of electric cars end up in private garages.

The most popular brands remain VW (13.9 percent market share), Skoda (10.7 percent) and Audi (6.6 percent) – all from the Volkswagen Group. BMW and Mercedes recorded different developments: While BMW lost 2.3 percent, Mercedes gained 17 percent.

Commercial vehicles: rush before the deadline

The increase in light trucks was even more drastic: 18,710 Class N1 trucks were registered – 46 percent more than in the previous year. In June, admissions in this category nearly doubled. Here too, the upcoming change in the law is likely to have persuaded many companies to bring forward their investments.

A total of 223,734 motor vehicles were newly registered in the first half of the year, an increase of almost 16 percent. Motorcycles (plus 7.5 percent) and motorized bicycles (plus 14.8 percent) also increased.

What the numbers mean

The rapid switch to alternative drives shows that Austria’s car market is in the midst of transformation. Subsidies, stricter CO₂ regulations and the growing range of models are accelerating the change. At the same time, the numbers raise questions: Why are diesel hybrids stagnating while gasoline hybrids are booming? And how sustainable is the approval boom if a large part is due to advance effects before changes in the law?