What every column means

Manufacturer key — 4 digits, identifies the manufacturer (Herstellerschlüsselnummer).

KBA SV 4

Type key — 3 characters, identifies the type within that manufacturer (Typschlüsselnummer).

KBA SV 4

Both keys joined, the usual way to reference a type in Germany.

Variant key (VSN) where the type is subdivided further.

Internal ordinal of the key within its listing.

How many type keys of this brand or model range exist in our catalogue.

Watch out: A count of keys, not of vehicles.

Total number of type keys in scope.

The individual HSN/TSN keys that make up this variant, separated by spaces.

Watch out: Several keys can describe the same car; this column names them all so the row can be traced back.

How many type keys this variant is built from.

How many of those keys carry an engine power that European registers state differently from the German catalogue.

Watch out: A disagreement between sources, not an error in either — the figure is shown so the row can be judged.

Identifier of the model generation the row belongs to, as model-range:generation.

Watch out: Our own identifier. The KBA does not publish generations.

Evidence grade of the variant name: amtlich (the official trade name), abgeleitet (taken from our catalogue) or beschrieben (assembled from the key’s attributes).

Watch out: Only an official name is one the manufacturer actually used. A described one says what the car is, not what it was called — and it is the most common case.

How many type keys under this manufacturer key (HSN) are mapped to a model range in our catalogue.

Watch out: Counts only the keys of the LARGEST mapped brand behind this HSN — the brand that marke_eigene_zuordnung names. Where one HSN carries several mapped brands, the figure is lower than the number of mapped keys. It counts keys, not vehicles.

Whether this key is mapped to a model range (yes/no).

Brand, in our curated spelling (e.g. “Mercedes-Benz”).

Brand exactly as the KBA writes it.

Watch out: Differs from ours for the largest names: the KBA writes “VW” and “MERCEDES”. Do not join the two columns on equality.

Our brand assignment where the official one is ambiguous or outdated.

Stable brand identifier (slug), safe to join on.

Parent group the brand belongs to (e.g. Volkswagen AG).

Model designation, curated.

Model designation exactly as published by the KBA.

Model range — the level at which the KBA reports monthly registrations.

Model range as published by the KBA.

Model range — the assignment by Fahrzeugstatistik.de (our curated grouping across generations), not an official KBA field.

Stable identifier of the model range.

Trade name as recorded in the register.

Generation within the model range (e.g. a facelift or a new platform).

First production year of that generation.

Last production year; empty while still in production.

Whether the brand is still producing, or historical.

Vehicle categories the brand covers (cars, motorcycles, commercial, agricultural, trailers).

Country of origin of the brand as classified by the KBA.

KBA FZ 17

Official KBA market segment of the model range (e.g. Kompaktklasse, SUVs).

KBA FZ 12

Body type assignment.

Official KBA market segment, in the KBA spelling (KOMPAKTKLASSE, SUVs, OBERE MITTELKLASSE …). Thirteen of them.

Watch out: Two views use this header for two different mappings: in the competitive environment it is the segment we file the model range under (name-based, see zuordnung_guete), in the segment powertrain mix it is the segment the KBA itself files the registrations under. The list of 13 names is identical in both.

KBA FZ 12 / FZ 8.3

The KBA segment the registrations are reported under in FZ 8.3.

Watch out: A model range can appear in TWO segments — the Fiat Ducato under WOHNMOBILE (motorhome base) and under UTILITIES. The key of that file is segment AND model range together; looking a range up by name alone picks the wrong row.

KBA FZ 8.3

How well the model range matches the segment it is filed under: name similarity between our range and the KBA range, 0 to 1, where 1.00 means an identical name.

Watch out: Never official, not even at 1.00 — the KBA publishes no range-to-segment mapping. Below 0.70 we treat it as doubtful; 232 of 865 ranges are below that line, and belegstufe_zuordnung says the same in words.

Marks the one row the file was built around: “ja” for the model range you asked for, “nein” for the competitors in its segment.

Other brands that share the KBA manufacturer entry behind this row — Jaguar and Land Rover, for instance. Empty where the brand has its entry to itself.

Watch out: Where this cell is filled, the figures belong to the shared entry, not to the brand alone. Summing the stock column over all rows counts those vehicles twice.

Registered vehicles on the reference date.

KBA FZ 6

The year the stock figure refers to.

Registered vehicles of the generation on 1 January 2019 (regional comparison).

KBA FZ 2

Registered vehicles of the generation on 1 January 2026 (regional comparison).

KBA FZ 2

The state's share of the generation's national stock on 1 January 2026, in percent.

KBA FZ 2

Passenger cars in stock.

KBA FZ 2 / FZ 27

The share of that stock our catalogue can attribute to a type key.

Watch out: Around 3.1 % of German cars are recorded without a type key at all and cannot appear in any HSN/TSN-level figure.

Reference date of the figure (usually 1 January or a quarter start).

Reference year.

Reporting year of the underlying KBA release.

Reference year of the CO₂ figure, which may differ from the stock year.

Reference year of the stock figure — always 1 January of that year.

Vehicle class of the row: Pkw (passenger car), Motorrad (motorcycle), Nutzfahrzeug (commercial vehicle), Zugmaschine (tractor unit) or Anhänger (trailer).

Which KBA publication the figure in this row comes from — “KBA FZ 2” for passenger cars, “KBA FZ 6” for the other four classes.

Watch out: Both count stock on 1 January, but they do not count the same thing: FZ 6 only breaks down what is reported per type key and comes out below FZ 2 for cars. Do not add or compare figures across the two.

The earlier of the two stock years being compared; bestand_jahr_von carries its figure.

The later of the two stock years being compared; bestand_jahr_bis carries its figure.

Registered vehicles in the year named by jahr_von, on 1 January.

Registered vehicles in the year named by jahr_bis, on 1 January.

Registered lorries (Lkw) held by this industry in this federal state.

Watch out: Counted at the holder’s registered address, not where the lorries are used.

KBA FZ 23

The earlier reference date the change column is measured against.

Watch out: The oldest date we hold, not a fixed one-year step — it moves as new quarters arrive.

New registrations in the reporting month.

KBA FZ 10

New registrations year to date.

New registrations in the reporting year.

Reporting month, as the first day of that month.

Share of all new registrations in that month, in percent.

Share of all new registrations year to date, in percent.

Change against the same month one year earlier, in percent.

Watch out: A percentage change, not a factor: +110 % means 2.1 times as many, not 1.1 times.

Of the month’s registrations, how many were all-wheel drive.

Of the month’s registrations, how many were convertibles.

New registrations in the period of the row.

Watch out: Which period depends on the view, and the row itself says so: with jahr and monat it is that single month; with bis_monat and monate it is the year up to and including that month.

All new registrations of the row’s month across every powertrain — the denominator for the powertrain columns beside it.

Reporting month as a number, 1 to 12.

The last month contained in the figure (8 means up to and including August).

How many months the figure adds up.

Watch out: The current year is a part year. Holding it against a full earlier year measures the missing months as a market collapse — that is what this column is here to prevent.

Used-car ownership transfers (Besitzumschreibungen) in that month — a change of keeper, not a new registration.

Watch out: Gap-free only from January 2023. In 58 months between 2009 and 2022 individual brands are missing entirely, VW among them — mostly September to December.

KBA FZ 9

Passenger cars newly registered in that federal state during the year.

Watch out: Up to 2005 the KBA reports only every fifth year, from 2010 annually; the eastern states begin in 1995. The gaps stay in the file and are not filled in — count the years, not the rows.

KBA FZ 26

Lorries newly registered in that federal state during the year.

KBA FZ 26

Motorcycles and mopeds newly registered in that federal state during the year.

KBA FZ 26

Powertrain classification.

Fuel type, official KBA wording.

KBA SV 1

Battery-electric vehicles.

Battery-electric registrations in the reporting month.

Battery-electric registrations year to date.

Battery-electric share of the fleet, in percent.

Diesel registrations in the reporting month.

Hybrids INCLUDING plug-in hybrids.

Watch out: Do not add plug-in hybrids to this column — they are already contained in it.

Hybrids EXCLUDING plug-in hybrids.

Plug-in hybrids.

Plug-in hybrid registrations in the reporting month.

Vehicles running on LPG or CNG.

All powertrains other than petrol and diesel, combined.

Battery-electric vehicles — what the KBA fuel statistics call “Elektro”. The same thing the column bev holds in other views.

Petrol vehicles, as the source reports them.

Watch out: Where a file calls the column benzin_restgroesse instead, the figure is not reported but calculated — read that entry before you use it.

Diesel vehicles.

Petrol registrations, CALCULATED: FZ 10 has no petrol column, so this is what remains of the month’s total after electric, plug-in hybrid, hybrid and diesel are taken off.

Watch out: The remainder also contains gas (LPG/CNG) and hydrogen vehicles, so it runs slightly high. It is the one derived column in those files, and belegstufe_benzin marks it as such.

Hybrids in the brand’s car stock, INCLUDING the plug-in ones.

Watch out: davon_plug_in_hybrid is the part of this column that plugs in — a subset, never something to add. In 0 of 80 rows is the plug-in figure larger than this one.

KBA FZ 13.6

“davon” means “of which”: the plug-in hybrids already contained in the hybrid column beside it.

Watch out: Adding it to hybrid counts those cars twice.

KBA FZ 13.6

Hybrids as FZ 8 collects them: one bucket holding plug-in and full hybrids together.

Watch out: The fuel statistics do not split this bucket. Where a view has separate plugin_hybrid and voll_hybrid columns, those come from a different KBA table (FZ 8.3) — the two are not interchangeable.

KBA FZ 8

Full hybrids — hybrids that do not plug in. Reported next to plugin_hybrid in the same row.

Watch out: The fuel statistics of the same KBA series roll both into one figure (see hybrid_sammelkategorie).

KBA FZ 8.3

Battery-electric cars in the brand’s stock.

Watch out: Battery-electric only: plug-in hybrids sit in the hybrid column, not here.

KBA FZ 13.6

Everything else in the brand’s car stock — gas, hydrogen and whatever the KBA does not break out.

Watch out: benzin + diesel + elektro_bev + hybrid + sonstige adds up to pkw_bestand, checked in 80 of 80 rows with a largest deviation of 0. That is also why an empty source cell is shipped as 0 here: it means no cars, not “unknown”.

KBA FZ 13.6

Electric share of the month’s new registrations in that federal state: battery-electric registrations divided by all registrations of the same row. We compute it; the row carries both numbers.

Watch out: ⚠️ The KBA column of the same name in its district table measures something else entirely — the electric share OF THE ALTERNATIVE POWERTRAINS (47.8 % nationally) rather than of the fleet (4.76 %), a factor of ten. We do not ship that column. Here the base is the row’s own total, and it is registrations, not stock.

The powertrain that led this model range before the switch — the largest single group in the fleet, not a majority.

The powertrain that leads it now.

Watch out: ⚠️ A switch does not mean the old powertrain disappeared, only that it is no longer the largest group — and it can switch back: the Cupra Formentor went from plug-in hybrid back to petrol.

The year in which the lead changed, measured on the fleet at 1 January.

Watch out: ⚠️ Fleet, not new registrations. The fleet is slow: battery-electric passed diesel among new registrations back in 2023, while in the fleet it still trails by a factor of 8.4. Of 294 model ranges with at least 20,000 vehicles, exactly 21 have switched.

KBA FZ 6

Fleet of the model range counting only keys whose fuel code in the German type catalogue is unambiguous.

Watch out: ⚠️ This is deliberately not the full fleet. Where a key carries several fuel codes we leave it out rather than guess. Across all mapped passenger-car keys that is 38 keys with 736 vehicles (0.0015 %), and none at all in the ranges listed here — but the column name says which of the two numbers you are holding.

KBA FZ 6

Engine power in kilowatts. Multiply by 1.36 for metric horsepower (PS).

Engine displacement in cubic centimetres.

Lowest engine power in kilowatts among the type keys that make up this variant.

Watch out: A variant can cover several type keys; where they differ, this is the lower bound rather than a single figure.

Highest engine power in kilowatts among the type keys that make up this variant.

Smallest engine displacement in cubic centimetres among the type keys of this variant.

Largest engine displacement in cubic centimetres among the type keys of this variant.

Body shape of the variant — saloon, estate, hatchback and so on.

Watch out: Derived from the official body classification, not a manufacturer marketing term.

Number of seats including the driver.

Maximum permissible laden mass in kilograms.

Body type, official KBA classification.

KBA SV 1

Emission standard (Euro 4, 5, 6 …).

Average CO₂ emissions of the entire model range in the reporting year, across all powertrains.

Watch out: A range average, not the value of the individual type key — and not meaningful for a battery-electric key.

KBA FZ 14

Average CO₂ emissions in grams per kilometre.

Average petrol consumption in litres per 100 km.

Average diesel consumption in litres per 100 km.

Volume-weighted average CO₂ emissions of the registrations in that row, in grams per kilometre.

Watch out: A zero is a value, not a blank — almost every zero row is one whose registrations were all battery-electric. An empty cell means the KBA reports no figure.

KBA FZ 8.3

Average CO₂ emissions of the brand’s new registrations in that month, in grams per kilometre.

Watch out: Only from January 2023 — FZ 8.2 does not reach further back. Earlier months are empty, not zero.

KBA FZ 8.2

Federal state (Bundesland) — the 16 top-level regions.

Registration district (Zulassungsbezirk) — the authority a vehicle is registered with.

Watch out: Roughly 400 districts. Not identical to administrative counties, and their boundaries have changed over time.

Region of the row: “Deutschland” is the national total, the 16 federal states stand beside it.

Watch out: The national row is a sum, not a 17th region — adding every row of a year counts each car twice.

How many registration districts the figures of that federal state are summed from.

Which cut the row is: “Gemeinde” (municipality) or “PLZ” (postcode).

Watch out: Two separate cuts of the same cars. Adding a municipality row to a postcode row double-counts them. Postcode rows also carry no federal state — the source does not assign one.

Name of the municipality, or the postcode itself — whichever the ebene column says.

For a municipality, the registration district it belongs to. Empty for postcode rows.

Of the month’s new registrations, how many went to private holders.

KBA FZ 8.9

Of the month’s new registrations, how many went to commercial holders.

KBA FZ 8.9

The rest: registrations for which the KBA reports no holder group.

Watch out: This is why halter_privat + halter_gewerblich never quite reaches neuzulassungen. It is the gap to the total, shown as its own column instead of being folded into one of the two groups — small but present in all 127 months (78 cars across 18 brands in August 2026).

KBA FZ 8.9

Cars in stock held privately. In the federal-state view this is exactly the KBA holder group of private holders — “Nichtselbstständige Halterinnen und Halter” (non-self-employed holders) since reference year 2026, “Arbeitnehmende und Nichterwerbspersonen” (employees and non-employed persons) before; in the municipality and postcode view it is the private total the source reports.

Watch out: Stock, not registrations — the holder columns of the new-registration views are halter_privat and halter_gewerblich.

Cars in stock held commercially.

Watch out: In the federal-state view this is a remainder: everything except the private holders (“Nichtselbstständige Halterinnen und Halter”, before 2026 “Arbeitnehmende und Nichterwerbspersonen”), which includes the KBA’s own “Unbekannt” (unknown) group — 5,395 of 5,710,671 commercial cars in reference year 2025.

Commercially held cars as a percentage of that state’s car stock.

Industry of the holder in the KBA’s own wording, following the German classification of economic activities — 22 groups (23 since reference year 2026), e.g. “Verkehr und Lagerei” (transport and storage) or “Baugewerbe/Bau” (construction).

Watch out: Two of the groups (22 until reference year 2025, 23 since the KBA’s 2026 reclassification) are not industries: the private holders (“Nichtselbstständige Halterinnen und Halter”, before 2026 “Arbeitnehmende und Nichterwerbspersonen”) and “Unbekannt”, where the holder could not be classified. The KBA’s “darunter” (of which) sub-rows are left out, so the groups do not overlap and can be added up.

KBA FZ 23

Privately held cars as a percentage of THAT BRAND’S car stock.

Watch out: The KBA reports this per manufacturer, not per brand, and the mapping between the two is our own work. Where it is missing the brand is missing: 42 of 90 car brands are in the file.

KBA FZ 2

Commercially held cars as a percentage of that brand’s car stock.

KBA FZ 2

Women as a percentage of the brand’s PRIVATE holders — not of its stock.

Watch out: A different denominator from privat_pct_vom_bestand and gewerblich_pct_vom_bestand, which go against the whole brand stock. Legal entities have neither age nor sex, so they cannot be in this base. Using one denominator for both put two pages of this portal 7.0 percentage points apart.

KBA FZ 2

Private holders under 30, as a percentage of the brand’s private holders — same base as frauen_pct_der_privaten.

KBA FZ 2

Private holders aged 60 and over, as a percentage of the brand’s private holders.

KBA FZ 2

Total stock of the row’s vehicle class — the denominator of anteil_an_klasse_pct.

Watch out: The class total, not the sum of the rows in the file: manufacturer entries we cannot map to a brand are counted here but have no row, so the shares of a class do not add up to 100 %.

The brand’s share of its vehicle class, in percent.

The brand’s entire car stock at that reference date — the denominator of anteil_im_markenbestand_pct.

The powertrain of this row as a percentage of the brand’s car stock.

Watch out: The powertrain rows overlap by design — “Elektro gesamt” contains BEV, plug-in hybrids and fuel cells — so these shares do not add up to 100 %.

The registration district’s entire car stock — the denominator of anteil_im_bezirk_pct.

The powertrain of this row as a percentage of that district’s car stock.

Watch out: Valid for its own row only. To combine districts or states, add the counts first and divide afterwards.

This industry’s share of the lorries registered in that federal state, in percent.

Watch out: Against the state, never against Germany: the national denominator depends on whether centrally registered holders without a state are counted. Add the counts first, then divide.

The brand’s national car stock — the denominator of anteil_am_bund_pct.

Watch out: Larger than the 16 state figures added together: cars without a state assignment appear only in the national figure (Volkswagen 10,326,185 against 10,313,070, a difference of 0.13 %).

That state’s share of the brand’s national car stock, in percent.

Stock of the entire KBA segment in that federal state, in the later of the two years.

The model range’s share of its segment, in percent.

Watch out: The denominator is the sum of the ranges in THIS file — every range we file under the same segment — not an official segment total. The mapping behind it is name-based; zuordnung_guete says how good it is.

How the model range spreads across the country: that state’s share of the range’s 16-state total, in percent.

Watch out: Adds up to 100 % across the states, which makes it a different figure from anteil_am_segment_pct in the same row.

Change in stock from jahr_von to jahr_bis, in percent.

Watch out: A percentage change, not a factor: +110 % means 2.1 times as many. Empty where the earlier year is zero.

Change in the number of battery-electric cars since the comparison date, in percent.

Watch out: Measured against vergleichsstichtag — the oldest reference date we hold, which is not a fixed one-year step.

One grade for the whole row, used where every column of the file is of the same kind.

Watch out: In most files it reads “amtlich”. In the brand catalogue and the federal-state overview it reads “abgeleitet”, because not one column there stands unchanged in a KBA publication: the stock is a sum over our catalogue mapping, and the shares are computed.

Grade for the key data itself — HSN, TSN and what the type register records about them. “amtlich”.

Grade for our mapping: brand, model range, generation, segment. “abgeleitet”, because the KBA publishes no such mapping.

Watch out: In the competitive view this column can also read “offen”: there the mapping rests on name similarity, and below a score of 0.70 we do not stand behind it — 232 of 865 ranges. zuordnung_guete carries the number itself.

Grade for the columns that describe the MODEL RANGE rather than the single key — CO₂ and segment. “abgeleitet”, because they reach the row through our range mapping.

Grade for the emission standard. “abgeleitet”: unlike every other column of that file it does not come from the KBA but from publicly available engine tables.

Grade for the stock counts in the row — “amtlich”, they stand unchanged in the KBA publication. Where a share sits beside them, that share is graded separately by belegstufe_anteil.

Grade for the share column beside it — “abgeleitet”, because we compute it ourselves while the counts in the same row are official.

Grade for the measured values in the row (CO₂, consumption) — “amtlich”. The range name in front of them is mapped, and that is what belegstufe_zuordnung grades.

Grade for the columns that stand unchanged in the KBA report: total, electric, plug-in, hybrid and diesel. “amtlich”.

Grade for the petrol column alone — “abgeleitet”, because it is a remainder we calculate. See benzin_restgroesse.