Although there are more and more cars in Germany, people are driving them less far. Depending on how you count, this is already the fourth or fifth decline in a row.
People in Germany are driving fewer kilometers by car every year. Last year they drove a total of 591 billion kilometers by car, the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA) announced on Friday. This was the fifth decline in a row: in 2018, it was 39 billion kilometers more. The so-called domestic mileage, which includes not only cars but also other motor vehicles from motorcycles to buses and semi-trailers, fell to 709 billion kilometers. However, this was only the fourth decline in a row.
The main reason for the decline in mileage was that the average car was driven less. On average, a German car covered 12,320 kilometers last year, 150 fewer than a year ago and a full 1,791 fewer than in 2014. This decrease was enough to more than compensate for the increase in the number of vehicles.
Diesel cars travel the furthest on average
How far an average car is driven depends on several factors: for diesel cars, the average is 17,187 kilometers, while for petrol cars it is only 9,580. In the category of other vehicles, which includes electric cars, hybrids and gas-powered vehicles, the average mileage was 15,852 kilometers.
The age of the vehicle also makes a big difference: cars that were one to three years old were driven an average of almost 2,300 kilometers further than vehicles that were four to seven years old. The mileage continues to decrease as the vehicle ages. One of the reasons for this could be that company and company vehicles, which often travel long distances, are usually young cars. In contrast, the average annual mileage increases with increasing horsepower: cars with less than 60 hp drive an average of less than 8,000 kilometers, while cars with more than 122 hp drive more than 14,900. The KBA statistics do not contain any specific figures for higher performance ranges, although more than half of all cars in Germany now fall into the top category.
The domestic mileage is extrapolated based on the mileage recorded during the general inspection.
Source: Stern
