Strong start to the year for Austrian car dealers despite the February decline

The beginning of 2025 initially brought promising figures for the Austrian car industry, but in February dealers experienced a decline. New registrations rose in January to their highest level since 2020, but in February the numbers fell 2 percent compared to the previous year. However, a total of 40,067 new vehicles were registered in the first two months, an increase of 6.7 percent oe24.at reported.

The rise of electric vehicles is particularly noteworthy: new registrations for electric cars rose by 31.1 percent, which underlines the trend towards alternative drives. In addition, gasoline hybrids increased by 25.6 percent and diesel hybrids by 11 percent. Tobias Thomas, the general director of Statistics Austria, noted that vehicles with alternative drives now make up 55.6 percent of all new registrations.

BYD on the road to success

An outstanding player in this segment is the Chinese manufacturer BYD, which recorded 926 new registrations in January and February 2025, almost tripling its numbers compared to the previous year. The company, which has already concluded over 1,000 purchase contracts, is well on its way to achieving its annual target of 8,000 new registrations. The top model, the Sealion 7, is a bestseller and continues to drive the company's new registrations vol.at reported.

Although the total number of new vehicles increased by 0.8 percent to 49,657 in the first two months, commercial vehicles such as light trucks and tractors experienced a decline. These results show that the market is constantly changing and the automotive industry must continue to adapt to meet new challenges.