Two employees prepare the aluminium bonnet of a new SUV vehicle. (picture alliance/dpa)
More than a million SUVs and off-road vehicles have been registered in Germany in one year for the first time, according to official statistics for the first 11 months of 2019.
By the end of November, 1.03 million of the vehicles had been registered. The figure up to the end of November was up 18 per cent year on year, and predictions are for the total to breach 1.1 million by the end of the year.
The figure, which includes registrations of both new and used vehicles, has risen sharply: There were just 600,000 such registrations in 2015.
SUVs and off-road vehicles are showing the fastest growth in new registrations and now make up almost 31 per cent of the market.
By contrast, more traditional cars are on the decline, from compacts to luxury models. New registrations of minivans, utility vehicles, mobile homes and sports cars are continuing to rise, although at a slower pace.
"The high rate of SUV sales will continue over the years ahead," automotive analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer said, predicting that the segment could make up 50 per cent of new registrations by 2025.
Ingrid Remmers, transport spokeswoman for the far-left Die Linke party, termed the trend "absurd," noting that SUVs "guzzle too much fuel, emit too many pollutants, are a greater safety risk and take up too much space on overcrowded roads."
Over the first 11 months of the year, Volkswagen sold almost 170,000 SUVs and off-road vehicles in Germany, followed by BMW with 93,000, Audi with 76,000, Ford with 70,000 and Mercedes with 66 000.
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