In March 2023, Salzburg’s car dealers had an electric car on almost every stand and a private buyer who still needed persuading. That was the reading of Leadersnet, a business news site, which walked the 14th Automesse Salzburg on its first two days, 24 and 25 March 2023.
Its report, published on 26 March, opened with this standfirst: “Elektro spielt eine immer größere Rolle, doch die Verbrenner scheinen noch lange nicht tot zu sein. Vor allem Privatkund:innen zeigen sich bei Stromern nach wie vor skeptisch.”
What Dealers And Visitors Told Leadersnet
Almost no brand came without at least one electric car, Leadersnet wrote. But the offer of petrol cars and (plug-in) hybrids was at least as large.
Its reporter spoke to dealers and to potential customers. Many of the customers were “nach wie vor zögerlich” about a pure electric car, mostly because of range, price, no way to charge at home and a charging network that was still patchy.
Company buyers were different, Leadersnet said, because of tax advantages and low service costs. That held even though the purchase bonus for firms had been scrapped that year.
Dealers had one piece of good news. Delivery times, which had often exceeded a year, had roughly halved. Inflation and higher interest rates were producing “eine spürbare Kaufzurückhaltung”, but not yet an alarm.
The Dealers’ Answer, On Paper
Our photographs from the Saturday show electric cars that belong in exactly that picture. A black Volkswagen ID.5 stood beside a Golf sign. A white MG4 at the MG and Mitsubishi stand carried a digital display reading “33.990 €” on its dashboard.
At Sonnleitner, a green Dacia Spring wore a bonnet disc reading “€ 500,– Messebonus”. It applied to financing and insurance through Mobilize Financial Services, on a new Dacia bought by 31 March 2023, and the price card read “ab 22.590,– €”.
Leadersnet’s own list of electric cars on the floor was long. It ran from the ID.Buzz and the Mercedes EQS SUV to the MG4, the Cupra Born, the Polestar 2 and the Renault Mégane E-Tech.
A turquoise Jeep Avenger stood in front of the logo of its European Car of the Year 2023 title. Leadersnet counted it among the models still to be launched.
We filmed the black ID.5 at Automesse Salzburg on Saturday 25 March 2023. Our Volkswagen ID.5 First Look has the full story.
We filmed the Avenger in front of its Car of the Year board at Automesse Salzburg 2023. Our Jeep Avenger First Look has the full story.
Who Was Actually Buying
Statistik Austria’s tables for 2022, published on 12 January 2023, count 215,050 new passenger cars in Austria, 10.3 per cent fewer than in 2021. Of those, 34,165 were battery-electric. That is 15.9 per cent, up from 13.9 per cent in 2021.
The same tables split electric registrations by holder. Firms and institutions took 26,935, down 3.3 per cent, and private persons 7,230, up 31 per cent. In the province of Salzburg the split was 2,835 to firms and 403 to private persons.
The trend carried into the show month. AustriaTech’s monthly report, based on Statistik Austria’s data to 31 March 2023, counts 5,075 new battery-electric cars in Austria in March 2023. That is 19 per cent of new passenger car registrations that month.
Hesitant, But Growing
The report and the tables do not contradict each other. Private buyers were a minority of electric registrations in 2022, about one in five in Austria and about one in eight in Salzburg. That fits what Leadersnet heard.
But private registrations were also growing fast, and the electric share of all new cars kept rising. So both sources show the same spring of 2023, with electric offers on every stand and a private buyer who had to be persuaded.
We filmed the Dacia Spring with its €500 show bonus at Automesse Salzburg 2023. Our Dacia Spring First Look has the full story.
Our Take
Leadersnet’s piece is a snapshot of one weekend, from the dealers and visitors it chose to ask. The tables cannot say how many private buyers had hesitated, so a weekend is no basis for reading a year of sales.
What the snapshot does catch is the dealers’ reply to a hesitant private buyer. A €500 show bonus on a small electric car and a price on a dashboard are that reply, in the dealers’ own print.
Independent editorial. No brand or organiser paid for or reviewed this article.
