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According to the “Electric Vehicle Sales Review” by PwC Autofacts and Strategy&, European car manufacturers are coming under increasing pressure in the future-oriented electric car market. Read an article by Felix Kuhnert, Partner, Automotive Leader, PwC Germany and Jörn Neuhausen, Director, Strategy& Germany, in the current issue of the eMove360° Magazine in german language (free download PDF).
Global new registrations of all-electric vehicles (Battery Electric Vehicle, BEV) have more than doubled from two million in 2020 to 4.5 million in 2021. Depending on the region, automobile manufacturers have shared this success to varying degrees: last year, more than eight out of ten vehicles of the best-selling BEV models in China and the USA came from an Asian or American manufacturer. In the global race for BEV market shares, German brands recorded a slight decline of 14 percent in purely electric cars in the fourth quarter of 2021 compared to 17 percent in the same quarter of the previous year. This is shown by the results of the current “Electric Vehicle Sales Review” by PwC Autofacts and Strategy&, PwC’s strategy consultancy, in which the number of new registrations in 14 selected markets worldwide is evaluated.
“The different access to semiconductors reveals geopolitical dimensions. In contrast to European and German OEMs, Asian manufacturers came through the crisis better on average, as a look at last year’s sales figures shows: Only every third purely electric vehicle sold in China, Europe or the USA has a European brand “, comments Felix Kuhnert, Partner and Automotive Leader at PwC Germany. “The next few months will be groundbreaking in these new segments. More and more automobile manufacturers see the future in purely electric vehicles. In important markets such as China, European OEMs are now concerned with building on the success of combustion engines and maintaining and possibly expanding market shares. This can only be achieved through sufficient product availability. If you have to regain lost market share later, this is a costly and challenging task.”
The number of new BEV registrations in the top 5 markets in the EU grew by 72.4 percent in 2021 compared to 2020, and in Germany by as much as 83.3 percent. E-mobility leader China continues to push ahead with BEV growth of 172.3 percent compared to 2020. The BEV market in the United States is showing promising signs of growth. Thanks to some popular models, BEV sales here increased by 62 percent compared to last year.
There are plans worldwide to reduce subsidies for electric vehicles. The Chinese government has announced that it will cut subsidies for electric vehicles by 30 percent this year. The UK has cut subsidies for electric vehicles for the second time, and in the Swiss canton of Valais, subsidies for hybrid vehicles have already been completely phased out. Although the new federal government has extended the current funding by one year, it plans to tighten the requirements afterwards. The subsidization of private wall boxes should be discontinued. France has also extended the current stimulus programs, but only until July 2022. US President Biden’s “Build Back Better” bill, which would provide a $12,500 tax credit for EVs, has not yet won a majority in the United States Congress found.
However, according to Jörn Neuhausen, Director at Strategy& Germany, the reduction in government funding should not lead to a slump in BEV sales figures. “The BEV market is growing more and more under its own steam, driven by a steadily growing range of models and manufacturers combined with further technological developments that will enable further cost reductions and performance increases by 2025. The ramp-up of battery cell production in Europe is a ray of hope, but at the same time preparation for it with the appropriate expertise on the part of the automotive industry is crucial.”
The distribution of the various electric drives still varies greatly from region to region. In Germany, there are signs of a change in market shares. Although the full hybrid still dominates with a market share of 16.4 percent (entire year 2021), the BEV drive has meanwhile advanced to second place (13.6 percent) and has more than doubled compared to the previous year (6.7 percent). ). The plug-in hybrid had a market share of 12.4 percent in 2021. In total, 42.4 percent of newly registered electric vehicles currently stand against 57.6 percent of combustion engines. In 2020, the ratio was 24.7 percent (EV) to 75.3 percent (ICE). This means that a tie can be expected in Germany by mid-2022 and that the combustion engine will be clearly surpassed by the end of this year. www.strategyand.pwc.com
