Although manufacturers such as Mercedes-Benz remain cautious on chips in their Q2 results, optimism from other OEMs such as VW, as well as the UK's SMMT, is building, with "supply chain constraints beginning to alleviate." In May, German passenger automobile production increased by 25% over the previous year. According to VDA data, this was still -31% below than pre-Covid 2019 levels. The entire plug-in mix of monthly production in Germany increased to 22.6% in April, the second highest monthly penetration on record.
VW Group, which makes all but three of its ten European BEV models in Germany, will increase production volumes after a poor start to the year in which German CO2 data suggests it isn’t on track to reach CO2 compliance limits at its current rate. Last year, Germany produced 323,288 BEVs, accounting for slightly more than half of all plug-in vehicles produced. However, that proportion is expected to increase this year, with Mercedes-Benz aiming to have every second plug-in model be a BEV by the end of the year, up from one-in-three today, according to CEO Källenius.
BEVs were affected in June by a drop in Tesla deliveries as a result of the Shanghai-related covid outage. Despite this, the BEV/PHEV difference widened and would have been significantly wider in the 12 months to June 2022. Over the past year, the gap has risen to 380,000, and it is expected to reach 0.5 million by the end of the year. The margin in 2021 was only 168,000 units. Year on year, PHEV volumes decreased for the fourth consecutive month in June (-21.9%), falling faster than the overall market (-17.3%). Premium OEMs dominate PHEVs, accounting for 46.9% of all new volumes this year. Volumes will remain high for some time due to benefit-in-kind benefits and Malus effects in several key countries, as well as a current scarcity of BEV supply, making PHEVs an attractive alternative.
