German auto association sees 2023 electric passenger car output up 50%

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's auto industry association VDA expects the number of electric passenger cars produced in Europe's biggest economy to jump by 50% to over a million this year, due to rising foreign demand and carmakers ramping up e-mobility production.

"We assume that the domestic production of electrically-powered passenger cars will increase by 50 percent to 1.33 million units, of which 980,000 will be purely battery-electric cars," VDA head Hildegard Mueller was quoted as saying by Automobilwoche on Sunday.

Some 885,000 electric cars were produced in Germany last year, 300,000 of which were plug-in hybrids, according to VDA.

Mueller said the forecast was based on new e-models on offer and rising production at Tesla's Gruenheide and Mercedes-Benz's Bremen plants, adding that demand from abroad was stronger than in Germany due to partial reductions in government subsidies that went into effect this year.

(Reporting by Riham Alkousaa)