Stuttgart residents drive less diesel

The discussions surrounding diesel, the emissions scandal and potential driving bans are already clearly reflected in Stuttgart’s vehicle population. At the end of 2017, despite the general increase in the passenger car population, there were 5140 fewer diesel cars registered than at the previous year’s reporting date: the number of diesel vehicles fell from 107,564 to 102,424 and their share of all passenger cars fell by 2.1 percentage points to 34 percent overall (see Table 1).

This trend reversal was even more pronounced in the case of new registrations, i.e. passenger cars that were no more than one year old at the time of registration (including daily and short-term registrations and annual cars). Their number increased by 12.7 percent from 42,738 in 2014 to 48,178 in 2017. At 7731, the number of gasoline-powered passenger cars increased, but hybrid-powered vehicles also suggest a further strong increase in the future. From 2016 to 2017, registration figures for this type of drive increased by 82 percent to 1278 vehicles. In contrast, the number of newly registered diesels fell by 13.1 percent from 2016 to 2017 to 2743 vehicles. While in 2014 more than half of new registrations were diesel, at 50.3 percent, the share fell to 44.4 percent by the end of 2016 and to 37.9 percent by 2017 (see Table 2).

When differentiated by private and commercial vehicle owners, the trend is more dynamic among commercial owners. While diesel vehicles declined by 1.8 percentage points to a share of 26 percent (58,245 passenger cars) among private owners, there was a drop of 3.7 percent among commercial owners. Overall, 57.2 percent (44,179) of passenger cars owned by commercial owners were still diesel vehicles (see Table 5). The greater percentage decline in the share of diesel vehicles among this group is due in particular to the shorter cycles for a vehicle change and the significantly higher diesel share and - if the trend continues - will also be observed among private owners in the medium term.

The relative increase in purely electric vehicles in the last year is impressive, and a share doubling can also be seen here in the private sector (cf. Table 5), but the absolute vehicle numbers are low, with a total of 1173 electric-powered passenger cars (cf. Table 1).

Whereas at the end of 2016, 135,936, 45.7 percent of Stuttgart’s passenger cars were assigned to emission classes Euro 1 to 4, at the end of 2017 the figure was only 123,209, or 41 percent of all passenger cars. It is noteworthy that only 28,776 of these were diesel passenger cars. Of the total of 102,424 diesel passenger cars, the share in Euro classes 1 to 4 was thus 28.2 percent. Overall, the proportion of diesel passenger cars in these emission classes fell by more than 10 percent over the past year, to 2895. The stock of Euro 5 diesels also fell sharply to 3538 vehicles, with a total of 30,955 Euro 5 diesel cars still on the road in Stuttgart at the end of 2017 (see Table 3).

Correspondingly, the proportion of Euro 6 passenger cars rose by 32.8 percent from 74,415 to 98,942, including 42,393 diesel cars (42.8 percent).

The most popular car in Stuttgart is the VW Golf, with around 25,000 registrations, while the Mercedes C-Class is a distant second with 15,716 vehicles. However, if we look at registrations by brand, we see that Mercedes-Benz is number one in Stuttgart. With a total of 68,358 passenger cars and 22.7 percent, Mercedes has the largest market share ahead of Volkswagen (60,456 and 20.1 percent). Even if one evaluates the registrations according to private owners, the picture at the top does not change. With 46,404 passenger car registrations, Mercedes is ahead of Volkswagen (43,310 passenger cars). BMW follows in third place among private registrations with 21,526 passenger cars. At 74.1 percent (222,773 passenger cars), the share of German passenger car brands is slightly down on the previous year’s figure of 74.3 percent (see Table 3).

SUVs and off-road vehicles are also becoming increasingly popular in Stuttgart, despite environmental discussions. The proportion of vehicles in these segments in the vehicle population has risen by 0.9 percentage points since the previous year to 10.2 percent (30,758 passenger cars). The trend becomes clearer when looking at new car registrations; here, the share of SUVs and off-road vehicles was 20.3 percent of all new cars in 2017. A total of 9779 passenger cars in these two vehicle segments were newly registered in Stuttgart. However, the largest vehicle segment is still the compact class with 24.3 percent (see Table 4).

The favorite colors for passenger cars are gray/silver and black by a clear margin. 60.1 percent of all Stuttgart vehicles have one of these colors (see Table 4). The average age of passenger cars is 8.3 years, while the age of privately registered passenger cars is 10.1 years. This means that vehicles are on average one year younger than the national average (9.3 years at the end of 2016). Within the last 10 years, the average age of the vehicles increased by about 1.1 years, which can be seen more strongly in the passenger cars of private owners in particular. Engine power and cubic capacity are on average 108 kW and 1877 cubic centimeters, respectively, roughly the same as in the previous year; here, too, a difference between the passenger cars of private owners (97 kW power and 1790 cubic centimeters) and those registered to commercial owners (141 kW and 2120 cubic centimeters) is evident (see Table 5).

27.1 of the vehicles are registered to women, 25.7 percent to legal entities or partnerships. The average age of private owners is 53.3 years. Owners over the age of 60 account for 31.5 percent of private vehicles. 17.7 percent of Stuttgart’s population is under 30, but this age group accounts for only 6.5 percent of private vehicle registrations (see Table 4). However, this only provides a limited indication of a forward-looking trend. A non-negligible proportion of the vehicles primarily used by this age group are registered to parents; moreover, the need for and procurement of a private car increases with the start of a family and the financial possibilities depending on age.