2016 (Half Year) Germany: Best-Selling Car Brands and Models

In Germany, new passenger vehicle registrations increased by 7.1% from January to June 2016 to 1,733,839 cars sold. VW was the top-selling brand and Golf best-selling car model.

Jaguar XE at Geneva Auto Show 2016 (3)

In 2016, the German new car market continued to expand with sales up a strong 8% in June to end the first half year of 2016 with an increase of 7.1% in new passenger vehicle registrations. During the first six months of 2016, 1,733,839 new cars were sold in Germany. Volkswagen was again the top-selling car manufacturer in Germany thus far in 2016 and despite weaker sales still accounted for 20% of the total German new car market. The VW Golf easily maintained its position as Germany’s favorite car model.

The German Vehicle Market in 2016 (First Half)

The German motorized vehicle market (Kraftfahrzeuge) expanded by 7% during the first half of 2016 to 2,035,739 vehicles. The largest component, new passenger vehicle (Personenkraftwagen / PKW) registrations, increased by 7.1% to 1,733,839 cars.

As a positive sign for the German economy, commercial vehicle (Lastkraftwagen / LKW) sales increased by a stronger 11% with bus (Kraftominbusse) sales up by 16% compared to the first half of 2015.

Petrol cars took a 51.5% (+9.8%) share of the new car market while 46.9% of newly registered cars had diesel engines. Hybrid cars took a 1.2% market share while electric car registrations remained embarrassingly low at only 4,357 cars for a market share of only 0.3%. (The German motoring press furthermore claims that a fair number of these electric cars are immediately sold on to foreign markets.)

Best-Selling Car Manufacturers in Germany in 2016 (First Half)

The top-selling car brands in Germany during the first six months of 2016 according to passenger vehicle registration figures released by the KBA were:

Brand Cars Sold % Share % Change
Total German Car Market 1,733,839 100 7.1
1 VW 346,188 20 -1.4
2 Audi 159,501 9.2 13
3 Mercedes 156,869 9 10.1
4 BMW 135,128 7.8 9.8
5 Opel 128,524 7.4 12.9
6 Ford 123,140 7.1 10.7
7 Skoda 96,475 5.6 5.6
8 Renault 60,849 3.5 15
9 Hyundai 52,888 3.1 5.3
10 Seat 47,421 2.7 -1.3
11 Fiat 40,761 2.4 6.3
12 Nissan 37,495 2.2 5.9
13 Mazda 33,156 1.9 17.2
14 Toyota 32,939 1.9 0.7
15 Kia 30,056 1.7 11.1
16 Peugeot 29,759 1.7 6.2
17 Citroen 26,165 1.5 8.4
18 Dacia 24,751 1.4 4.2
19 Mini 22,148 1.3 10.4
20 Mitsubishi 20,868 1.2 12.6
21 Volvo 19,388 1.1 13.3
22 Smart 18,881 1.1 -4.7
23 Porsche 16,128 0.9 4.7
24 Suzuki 15,548 0.9 -6.4
25 Honda 14,816 0.9 49.9
26 Land Rover 12,377 0.7 29.8
27 Jeep 6,984 0.4 -1
28 Jaguar 4,415 0.3 99.5
29 Subaru 3,758 0.2 11.1
30 DS 2,496 0.1 -15.4
31 Alfa Romeo 1,884 0.1 29.3
32 Ssangyong 1,752 0.1 61.8
33 Lexus 991 0.1 24.7
34 Tesla 778 0 11.8
Others 8,562 0.5

Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2016 (January to June)

Almost all car brands managed to increase car sales in Germany during the first half of 2016. A major exception was market leader Volkswagen that saw sales down by 1.4% – although this is in effect only 5,000 cars fewer than during the first six month of 2015, in a growing market it meant that VW’s market share slipped from 21.7% to 20%. Uncertainty over the quality of Volkswagen’s cars, and especially dissatisfaction with the different treatment VW is giving to US customers compared to German car buyers, continued to weigh heavily on Volkswagen car sales in its home market.

In contrast, VW-owned Audi sales increased strongly during the first half of 2016. Audi sales grew by 13% to confirm Audi as the second strongest car brand in Germany – a position it took from Mercedes-Benz earlier in 2016.

Mercedes-Benz and BMW increased sales in Germany during the first six months of 2016 by around 10%. Opel sales increased by an even stronger 12.9% while Ford sales were up by 10.7%

VW-owned Skoda remained Germany’s best-selling foreign car brand despite slightly underperforming the broader market. Renault, in contrast, increased sales by a strong 15% but the French brand remained way off the favorite imported car status that it enjoyed in Germany for many years.

Hyundai underperformed while tenth-placed VW-owned Seat had weaker sales similar to Volkswagen.

A few further salient features from the car sales statistics for the first half of 2016 in Germany:

  • Only six brands had weaker sales with DS, Suzuki, Smart and Volkswagen the worst performers.
  • The most-improved brands were Jaguar, Ssangyong and Honda while Land Rover, Alfa Romeo and Lexus also enjoyed much stronger sales.
  • Nissan remained the top-selling Japanese car brand in Germany but a strong performance by Mazda pushed Toyota into third place.

The Volkswagen Golf easily maintained its traditional position – since 1981 – as Germany’s favorite car model.

About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance writer with over 20 years of experience in online writing. His best-selling cars website has been reporting car sales statistics since 2008 with classic car auction prices focusing on the most expensive automobiles sold at public auctions in the past decade. He also owns the travel websites European-Traveler.com and Lake Geneva Switzerland. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Finance from the University of London.