Vehicle population Germany 2025: trends & figures at a glance

On January 1, 2025, there were 61,097,943 registered motor vehicles in Germany - a slight increase of 0.7% compared to the previous year. This report summarizes the current stock figures, changes in vehicle classes and developments in alternative drive types and provides you with a comprehensive overview of the German vehicle market.

Total stock and regional highlights

Total stock:
At 61,097,943 vehicles, a moderate increase of 0.7% was achieved on January 1, 2025.
Trailers:
There was also a significant increase in vehicle trailers: 8,557,884 units (+1.4%).
Regional distribution:
With 14,155,670 vehicles, North Rhine-Westphalia is the federal state with the largest vehicle fleet, followed by Bavaria with 12,462,511 units.

Developments in the passenger car category

Stock and owners:
At 49,339,166 units, passenger cars (cars) make up the largest part of the stock (+0.5%). Of these, around 43.6 million passenger cars (88.3%) are privately registered, while the proportion of commercially registered passenger cars has fallen slightly by -0.1% to around 5.7 million.
Brand preferences:
The leading German brands include VW (20.9 %), Mercedes (9.6 %), Opel (7.9 %), BMW (7.0 %), Ford (6.7 %) and Audi (6.7 %). Particularly noteworthy are the increases in MAN (+21.6%), Porsche (+3.9%), MINI (+2.3%) and Sachsenring (+1.5%).

Alternative drives and segment trends

Hybrids and electric vehicles:
The number of hybrids rose by 22.2% to 3,556,956 units, while plug-in hybrids increased by 4.9% to 967,423 units. The increase in electric passenger cars (BEV) is particularly impressive: at 1,651,643 units, this segment recorded an increase of 17.2%.
Decline in fossil fuels:
Diesel and gasoline-powered passenger cars declined, meaning that around 43.8 million vehicles continue to run on fossil fuels. Alternative drive systems such as natural gas (-5.6%) and liquid gas (-4.4%) as well as fuel cell vehicles (-14.8%) also recorded declines.
Emission classes:
While vehicles in emission class Euro 6 increased by 7.2% and account for 49.2% of the stock, the numbers in classes 4 and 5 fell significantly compared to the previous year.

Segment development and average age

Segment distribution:
Despite a decline of 1.2%, the compact class remains the strongest segment with a share of 22.8%, followed by small cars (17.4%). The growth of SUVs is particularly striking with an increase of 9.9%, while motorhomes (+8.1%), off-road vehicles (+3.6%) and utilities (+1.4%) also recorded growth.
Average age:
The average age of registered passenger cars was 10.6 years, and the number of classic cars rose by 4.9% to 888,355 vehicles.

Conclusion
The latest figures on the vehicle population in Germany show that the market is experiencing significant trends in certain segments, particularly in alternative drive systems and SUVs, despite moderate overall growth of 0.7%. While fossil drive systems continue to decline, hybrids and electric cars continue to grow. These developments underline the ongoing transformation of the German vehicle market and provide valuable insights for future market analyses.