Angela Merkel's government is considering a dramatic increase in the subsidies for buying an electric car, as German buyers continue to shun plug-in vehicles.
The German car market (although it dipped dramatically in September) was a healthy 2.1-million vehcile sales so far in 2012, but just over 2,000 of these were electric cars – 1 0.1% market share, and this despite Chancellor Merkel's previously stated goal to have one million electric cars on German roads by 2020.Neighbouring France already gives electric car buyers a €5,000 kickback, and the Merkel government is mulling other options, such as a 10-year exemption from road tax. But recent developments, not only a falling car market and reduced consumer sentiment (which will make buyers more conservative and less likely to spend money on a battery car) but also Toyota's announcement that it's going to shun all-electric vehicles in favour of plugin hybrid development, will not make Frau Merkel's task any easier.
Any subsidy, if decided on, won't kick in until the back end of next year at the earliest, but Mercedes CEO Dieter Zetsche reckons that without it, the maximum possible market in Germany for electric cars is a mere 600,000 units.
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