At first glance, it is a positive upward trend, but a closer look shows that it is only a pull-forward effect: we are talking regarding new car registrations in Austria in the first half of 2024. The bottom line is that Statistics Austria, which published the latest figures on Tuesday, recorded 135,113 first-time car registrations from January to June. That is an increase of 6.6 percent compared to the previous year.
The main driver was June, which clearly stood out with an increase of 25.2 percent. This is due to new EU regulations: They stipulate that certain assistance systems must be installed in new cars by July. And this applies not only to newly introduced series, but also to models that are already in dealer showrooms. Specifically, these are speed and attention warning systems or preparation for an alcohol immobilizer.
All cars that do not have these little helpers on board are no longer allowed to be registered.
Therefore, importers and dealers had to register all those cars that did not meet these regulations in June. And for some brands, that was quite a lot: Mitsubishi, for example, registered 1,296 new cars in June alone, compared to 237 in June of the previous year. Unsurprisingly, the Mitsubishi Space Star small car came second in the model ranking in June 2024 with 860 units, just behind the VW Golf. For comparison: 99 Space Stars were newly registered in June 2023. And no, the Space Star is not a new model. New registrations of the Hyundai i10, for example, increased tenfold in June, from 42 to 444 units. This is also a model that has been on the market for a long time.
Retailers and importers do not see this development as a tragedy: “It is good for customers because they can now buy a virtually new car cheaply for a certain transitional period,” says Adolf Seifried, chairman of the Upper Austrian vehicle trade association, in an interview with OÖN. The fact that these vehicles will subsequently be missing from the new registration statistics in the coming months is “part of the game.”
Austrians give electric cars the cold shoulder
Günther Kerle, spokesman for domestic importers, argues similarly: “In principle, we always welcome an increase in registration numbers. In this case, however, the reason for the increase is not the natural development of the market, but the necessary registration of stock vehicles by the trade.”
What else is noticeable when looking at the domestic car market? Austrians are still giving electric cars the cold shoulder, as shown by a minus of 5.1 percent in the first half of the year (graph above). However, the strong growth in petrol hybrid drives is notable. The increase of 18.5 percent shows that this bridging technology to electromobility is currently in great demand. However, this must be put into perspective: In addition to plug-in and full hybrid cars, this category also includes the rapidly growing number of cars with mild hybrid drives. And these can only be driven purely electrically for a very short time, if at all.
This article was updated at 20:12.