German auto industry association forecasts 50% increase in 2023 electric passenger car output

GERMANY’S auto industry association VDA expects the number of electric passenger cars produced in Europe’s biggest economy to jump by 50 per cent to over a million this year, due to rising foreign demand and carmakers ramping up e-mobility production.

“We assume that the domestic production of electrically-powered passenger cars will increase by 50 per cent to 1.33 million units, of which 980,000 will be purely battery-electric cars,” VDA head Hildegard Mueller was quoted as saying by industry publication Automobilwoche on Sunday (Apr 16).

Some 885,000 electric cars were produced in Germany last year, 300,000 of which were plug-in hybrids, said VDA.

Mueller said the forecast was based on new e-models on offer and rising production at Tesla’s Gruenheide and Mercedes-Benz’s Bremen plants, adding that demand from abroad was stronger than in Germany due to partial reductions in government subsidies that went into effect this year. REUTERS