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Preponed purchases due to VAT increase cause new registrations to fall in January

New registrations of leisure vehicles in Germany fell by 7.8 percent in January. This is due to the re-increase in VAT from 16 to 19 per cent on 1 January 2021, which caused many purchases and new registrations to be brought forward to December. A total of 4,074 new recreational vehicles were registered last month.


Caravan registrations down sharply

The one-off effect of preponed sales was particularly noticeable for caravans. In December, they had increased by more than 80 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. In January, they now fell by 38.2. 751 caravans were newly registered in the first month of the new year.

 

New motor caravan registrations grow relentlessly

New motor caravan registrations continued to grow despite the effect of the VAT increase. In December, new registrations had tripled, partly due to the preponement. In January, however, they rose by 3.7 percent to 3,323 vehicles.

 

Newly registered leisure vehicles in Germany

Source: CIVD evaluation of figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority (KBA)