The Volkswagen Golf easily remained the top-selling car model in Germany for the first half of 2012. The Passat and Polo gave VW a clean sweep of the three best-selling car models.
The VW Golf (including Jetta) kept its traditional position as Germany’s favorite car model for the first half of 2012. The Golf was followed by the VW Passat, which narrowly outsold the smaller VW Polo. The Opel Astra was fourth. In a flat car market, all four top-selling car models in Germany during the first six months of 2012 sold fewer cars than the year before. The Skoda Octavia (15th) was the most popular imported car in Germany.
Best-Selling Cars by Model in Germany in 2012 (Half Year)
The German car market grew modestly (0.7%) during the first half of 2012 to record 1,634,401 new passenger vehicle registrations.
The best-selling car models in Germany during the first six months of 2012 according to car sales statistics released by the KBA were:
| Make & Model | January to June | |||
| Â | 2012 | % Change | % Business | |
| 1 | VW GOLF, JETTA | Â 128 032 | -0.5 | 66.4 |
| 2 | VW PASSAT | Â 46 692 | -13 | 88.3 |
| 3 | VW POLO | Â 43 116 | -11.2 | 37.9 |
| 4 | OPEL ASTRA | Â 38 112 | -15.8 | 71.4 |
| 5 | MERCEDES C CLASS | Â 37 566 | 2.7 | 65.8 |
| 6 | BMW 3 SERIES | Â 33 850 | 6.9 | 80.5 |
| 7 | BMW 1 SERIES | Â 30 107 | 4.9 | 66.3 |
| 8 | AUDI A6, S6, RS6, A7 | Â 29 899 | 44.4 | 85.8 |
| 9 | MERCEDES B CLASS | Â 29 632 | 45 | 41 |
| 10 | OPEL CORSA | Â 29 342 | -15.9 | 70.5 |
| 11 | VW TIGUAN | Â 28 986 | 14.1 | 37.3 |
| 12 | VW TOURAN | Â 27 280 | -6.7 | 66.4 |
| 13 | FORD FOCUS | Â 26 738 | -11.6 | 73.6 |
| 14 | FORD FIESTA | Â 26 546 | -3.3 | 73.6 |
| 15 | SKODA OCTAVIA | Â 25 768 | 9.1 | 57.2 |
| 16 | AUDI A4, S4, RS4 | Â 24 233 | -18.3 | 83.8 |
| 17 | BMW 5 SERIES | Â 23 823 | -23.2 | 84.4 |
| 18 | AUDI A3, S3, RS3 | Â 23 785 | -9.6 | 71 |
| 19 | SKODA FABIA | Â 23 589 | -10.5 | 48.3 |
| 20 | MERCEDES E CLASS | Â 20 283 | -17.3 | 66 |
| 21 | VW UP | Â 20 265 | New | 44.4 |
| 22 | BMW MINI | Â 19 743 | -2.2 | 54.3 |
| 23 | OPEL ZAFIRA | Â 17 993 | 84.6 | 63.4 |
| 24 | VW CADDY | Â 17 705 | -1.2 | 61.1 |
| 25 | VW TRANSPORTER, CARAVELLE | Â 17 689 | 2.1 | 78.5 |
| 26 | HYUNDAI I 30 | Â 16 282 | -11.7 | 58.4 |
| 27 | NISSAN QASHQAI | Â 16 044 | -10 | 43.3 |
| 28 | SMART FORTWO | Â 15 872 | -3 | 39.1 |
| 29 | AUDI A1, S1 | Â 15 202 | 10 | 54 |
| 30 | MERCEDES A CLASS | Â 15 110 | 38.1 | 32.9 |
Source: KBA
Top-Ten Best-Selling Car Models in Germany in 2012 (Half Year)
There was no change in the list of the top five best-selling cars in Germany during the first half of 2012 compared to full-year 2011. The Golf slipped slightly but by selling almost three times more cars than the second place Passat half a percentage decline in sales hardly put Germany’s favorite car at risk of losing that accolade. Despite being due for change later in 2012, the VW Golf is still selling strongly in Germany and much of Europe.
Although maintaining their relative positions, the VW Passat, VW Polo, and Opel Astra sold fewer cars during the first half of 2012 than a year before. Fifth place Mercedes C Class record a slight increase in the number of cars sold.
The BMW 3-Series is up one place from last year while the BMW 1-Series, Mercedes-Benz B Class, and Audi A6 are all new entries into the top-ten list of best-selling cars in Germany. The Opel Corsa was the sixth best-selling car in Germany last year.
Best-Selling Car Models in Germany in 2012 (First Half)
The prevalence of premium car models by BMW, Mercedes, and Audi is reflected in the strong positions of these car manufacturers in the list of best-selling car brands in Germany. Mainstream manufacturers such as Opel and Ford sell fewer cars than premium brands in Germany.
A newcomer on the list is the Volkswagen Up!, which will surely end on the top-twenty list by year’s end. The sudden burst of activity for the Opel Zafira and Mercedes A-Class are due to discounting ahead of model changes.
Favorite Business Car Models in Germany in 2012
The final column in the statistics shows the percentage of cars registered by businesses as opposed to private individuals. The VW Passat Variant is hugely popular with German families but clearly mostly obtained second hand.
Also noteworthy is the large difference between the number of privately registered Mercedes-Benz cars versus similar size models of Audi and BMW. There are no Audi models on the top-ten list of most popular cars for German private buyers.
On the other hand, 95% of Audi A8, 93% of BMW 7 Series, and 90% of Mercedes S Class cars sold during the first six months of 2012 in Germany were registered by businesses. Of the 496 Ferraris sold in Germany during the same period, more than half were not registered privately.
Volkswagen, followed by BMW and Mercedes-Benz were the top-selling car brands in Germany during the first half of 2012.
