Price differences enormous
Discounts make combustion engines even cheaper than electric cars
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In many cases, electric cars are significantly more expensive than combustion engines. According to a study by industry expert Dudenhöffer, the discounts on combustion engines are also higher. A double disadvantage for electric cars. But it is not the same for all German car manufacturers.
According to a study by industry expert Ferdinand Dudenhöffer, car buyers pay an average of 21 percent more for an electric car than for a comparable combustion engine. With list prices already higher, there are currently even lower discounts than for combustion engines. The declining market share of electric cars in Germany is therefore understandable.
Dudenhöffer compared the list prices minus discounts of 20 important electric models with the corresponding combustion engines that a private car buyer pays for his new car. The discounts were determined for the month of August from online brokers. The list price of the electric cars is therefore on average 45,040 euros, the discount is 12.9 percent, and the sales price is therefore 39,236 euros. The list price of the comparable combustion engine is 38,228 euros, the discount is 15 percent, and the sales price is only 32,355 euros.
EU punitive tariffs already priced in
“It is striking that the German premium car manufacturers, especially BMW, are making the price range between electric cars and combustion engines rather small,” writes the industry expert. At Opel and Peugeot, electric cars are considerably more expensive than the combustion engines in the respective model series. In August, the electric version of the Opel Corsa was 13,633 euros or 79 percent more expensive than the combustion engine; for the fully electric Opel Mokka, car buyers paid 9,411 euros or 35 percent more.
The price comparison is similar for Peugeot, Nissan and Chinese car manufacturers. According to Dudenhöffer, the electric version of the MG ZS costs 12,843 euros, or 75 percent more than the combustion engine version. The Chinese car company has obviously already factored in the EU punitive tariffs.
“Too expensive for the average consumer”
With such price differences, however, “electric cars are too expensive for the average consumer.” In the first seven months, Opel and Peugeot only sold 5.1 percent of their cars in Germany with fully electric drive. Overall, the market share from January to the end of July was 12.2 percent. BMW even reached 16.7 percent. Dudenhöffer sees one reason in the smaller price difference. For the BMW X1, for example, it is only 2,260 euros or 6 percent. The same applies to the Mercedes models compared.
The fact that the large price differences are perhaps the most important reason for the sluggish sales of battery-powered cars is also shown by the stopping of the purchase premiums at the end of 2023: “Until the end of 2023, the lack of charging stations, for example, had by no means prevented buyers from buying electric cars. The slump came with the stopping of the premium,” writes Dudenhöffer.
