Chinese electric vehicle imports to Germany declined in the first four months of the year, but Asia's economic powerhouse still managed to increase its EV import market share in Germany during the period, the German statistics office said on Tuesday.

Imports of Chinese EVs to Germany fell by 15.7% to 31,500 vehicles between January and April, Destatis said. However, China increased its EV import market share in Germany to 40.9% during the period and remains its biggest importer of e-cars. Last week, the European Commission said it would impose extra levies of up to 38.1% on imported Chinese electric cars from July to contrast an influx of cheap cars in its market spurred by robust state subsidies at home.

The statistics office pointed to weak domestic demand as a reason for the slump in Chinese EV imports during the four-month period.

The Czech Republic and South Korea saw their EV exports to Germany fall by almost a third and half, respectively, compared to the same period in 2023.

"Chinese electric car imports thus declined much more weakly than total imports of electric cars," the federal statistics office said.

In 2023, China exported a total of 447,200 electric cars to Germany, while only 11,400 moved in the other direction, according to Destatis.

($1 = 0.9331 euros) (Reporting by Paolo Laudani and Rene Wagner, Editing by Friederike Heine)