The new inventory figures from the Federal Motor Transport Authority as of January 1, 2021 have been published. According to these figures and evaluations by the ADAC, the number of classic vehicles with/without H license plates (cars, motorcycles, trucks, tractors, trailers, etc.) increased by 11 percent to 660,520 vehicles over a period of twelve months.
The average age of all cars rose to 9.8 years, an increase of around 1.5 years in recent years.
With 584,509 vehicles (88.5 %), passenger cars make up the largest proportion of classic cars eligible for H license plates. 59 % of all cars over 30 years old are so-called "historic vehicles".
The total number of classic and vintage cars in Germany is 4,126,586, which means that cars over 20 years old account for around 9% of the total number of cars.
Diesel vehicles account for 10.7% of both youngtimers and classic cars. At 89.0% and 88.8% respectively, petrol engines account for the largest share. As many as 4736 gas-powered and 315 electric/hybrid-powered cars over 30 years old are registered.
Note (KBA):
Compared to the previous publications ("motor vehicles and motor vehicle trailers with history license plates"), the history vehicles are now referred to as "classic cars with and without history license plates" as of January 1, 2019. The way in which the officially recognized classic cars with or without history plates are counted has not changed, meaning that the number of vehicles is comparable to that of previous years.
In addition, the "Definitions of statistics on vehicle registrations" state:
Oldtimers: Vehicles that were first put on the road at least 30 years ago, correspond as far as possible to the original condition, are in a good state of preservation and serve to maintain the vehicle's cultural heritage (§ 2 number 22 FZV). They can be recognized as classic cars by means of a corresponding certificate in accordance with § 23 StVZO. Since 01.01.1997, vehicles that have been recognized as classic cars can also be given a special registration plate (history registration plate). In most cases, this special status has the effect of reducing the motor vehicle tax. In the official statistics, only those vehicles are shown as classic cars that are identifiable as such in the central vehicle register.
This is the case if the owner has the emission class changed accordingly when registering his officially recognized classic car (with or without the allocation of a history license plate) in order to be able to claim tax benefits. However, they can also have a history license plate registered for their officially recognized classic car without this change. It follows from the above that officially recognized and registered classic cars without the corresponding identification features (specific emission class, history license plate) cannot be shown as such in the official statistics.
