The offer to microcars will shrink significantly in the near future. In the first half of the year, however, they once again set a new registration record.
The small cars are the winners in the first half of the year. The number of new registrations in Germany in the first six months rose by 62 percent compared to the previous year to just under 84.000 units, according to data from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA). That was the strongest growth rate of all passenger car segments; the overall market grew by 15 percent to almost 1,4 million vehicles in the same period.
The strong plus is due not least to two e-mobiles: the Fiat 500 and the Smart Fortwo have recently made significant gains. In addition, the Hyundai i10 was a newly launched model with a large market share. Despite the strong growth, the small car class remains behind the SUV, the compact class, the small car and the middle class in the popularity ranking. The microcar boom will only be a snapshot, however. In the coming months, numerous models are likely to disappear from the range, in addition to the Smart, competitors from the VW Group and vehicles from Peugeot and Citroen. The reason for the withdrawal of the manufacturers from this segment are the low profit margins in combination with the increasing pressure of the consumption and pollutant limit values.