Niedrige Treibstoffpreise lassen Neuwagenkäufer in alte Verhaltensmuster zurückfallen

Data from German car market shows that low oil prices are changing buying patterns for new cars. Whereas fuel consumption and CO 2 emissions have been reduced substantially during the last ten years, decreasing fuel prices have reversed this trend. Four effects can be observed. First, engine horsepower is strongly increasing. Second, the market shares of larger cars, especially SUVs (sport utility vehicles) are rising. Third, despite the continuously increasing supply of hybrid and battery electric vehicles, their sales levels remain extremely low. Fourth, alternative powertrains are nearly completely ignored by new car buyers. This is a dangerous trend. After 2021 carmakers will have to fulfill stronger CO 2 emission targets, which can only be reached with alternative powertrains. Pure premium carmakers like BMW or Daimler have in the current regulatory framework more disadvantages compared to Audi or Porsche because there are no tradeoff effects between volume and premium cars. Thus, regulation distorts competition. Copyright ZBW and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015