Europe's energy squeeze: heat pumps up 17%, Playmobil exits Germany

The figures, published by pv magazine on 4 May, put total first-quarter sales at around 575,000 units across the 11 countries, up from 494,000 in the same period of 2025. France, Germany and Poland averaged 25% growth. The EHPA credits that to rising energy prices and worries about energy security. Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz on 2 March, which sent gas and oil prices sharply higher across Europe.

Austria was the exception. Sales there fell 30%, a drop the association links to the absence of government subsidies.

Paul Kenny, director general of the EHPA, framed the shift as consumer choice rather than climate policy. "If your streaming service doubled its price then blocked its movies you'd find a better one," he said, according to pv magazine. "Consumers have realized heat pumps are the solution when gas and oil are erratic in price and supply." Kenny said the European Commission has outlined support measures in its energy crisis plan, including VAT and tax reductions and social leasing schemes for lower-income households. He called on EU governments to implement them quickly.

Demand is one half of the story. The other is what happens when energy costs stay high for industrial users that cannot simply switch fuel source. On 24 June, Brussels Signal reported that Playmobil was ending all figure production in Germany, closing its Dietenhofen plant in Bavaria and consolidating manufacturing at existing sites in Malta and the Czech Republic. Around 350 jobs are affected. The Horst Brandstätter Group, which owns the brand, cited sharply rising production costs in Germany, naming high energy prices alongside elevated wages and ancillary labour costs. The final shift ended that week, with remaining employees on paid leave ahead of an official shutdown at the end of June.

Unions called the move a "catastrophe" for the region, according to Brussels Signal. Business groups described it as the latest example of a mid-sized German enterprise relocating. Administrative and logistical functions stay in Germany, but the plastic figures will now be made entirely outside the country that created them.

The wider context is not improving. Brussels Signal noted that Germany's household electricity prices remain the fifth most expensive globally and the second highest among major industrial nations. Energy-intensive processes have been exposed since the 2022 energy crisis, despite partial government relief.

Heat pump growth and factory closures are not contradictory data points. They are two responses to the same price signal: one from households that can substitute, one from manufacturers that cannot.

The picture varies sharply by country. Austria's 30% fall shows how much the heat pump market still depends on subsidy, while France, Germany and Poland grew on price pressure alone. The EHPA's own numbers suggest the shift is real but uneven, and the Commission's proposed tax and leasing measures are not yet in force.

For German industry, the Playmobil case adds to a run of similar announcements. Brussels Signal placed the closure alongside Volkswagen's plans to cut its model range and production, Porsche's additional job cuts, and warnings from industry groups about structural competitiveness problems. The common thread is the cost of running energy-intensive operations in Germany.

Whether the heat pump numbers keep climbing depends partly on how fast Brussels moves on the support measures Kenny described. Whether plants keep closing depends on something slower to fix.