Volkswagen, followed by Opel and Mercedes, is the most common car brand on German roads at the beginning of 2013.
Of the just over 43 million cars registered in Germany at the beginning of 2013, Volkswagen had a share of 21%. Despite Opel’s current woes, it is still the second most common car marque on German roads followed by Mercedes-Benz. Dacia, Hyundai and Mini saw the biggest increase while General Motors, MG Rover, and Chrysler cars are disappearing from German roads the fastest. The German Fahrzeugbestand, or car parc, increased by 1.2% over a year ago.
Total Number of Cars Registered in Germany on 1 January 2013
According to car registration statistics released by the KBA, there were 60.8 million motorized vehicles registered on the road in Germany on January 1, 2013. This included 43,431,124 (+1.2%) passenger cars, 3,982,978 motorcycles, 76,023 buses, and 2,578,567 heavy goods vehicles.
Almost two-thirds (65.3%) of all cars on German roads are German brands, while 11% are from Japan and 9.3% from France. Nearly 70% of all cars in Germany use petrol with only 1.5% using alternative clean energies.
On January 1, 2013, Germany had 7,114 electric cars (+56.7%), 64,995 hybrid cars (+36.4%), 494,777 LPG cars (+8.4%), and 76,284 natural gas automobiles.
Cars in Germany in 2013 by Manufacturer
According to the KBA, the number of cars registered in Germany on January 1, 2013, by brand was:
| 1 January 2013 | % MS* | 1 January 2012 | % Change | ||
| Alfa Romeo | 164 486 | 0.4 | 165 847 | -0.8 | |
| Audi | 2 819 854 | 6.5 | 2 728 221 | 3.4 | |
| BMW | 2 869 999 | 6.6 | 2 805 162 | 2.3 | |
| Chevrolet | 247 693 | 0.6 | 230 432 | 7.5 | |
| Chrysler | 97 903 | 0.2 | 106 153 | -7.8 | |
| Citroen | 796 055 | 1.8 | 782 226 | 1.8 | |
| Dacia | 250 000 | 0.6 | 207 544 | 20.5 | |
| Daihatsu | 126 769 | 0.3 | 135 303 | -6.3 | |
| Fiat | 1 169 632 | 2.7 | 1 196 381 | -2.2 | |
| Ford | 3 384 197 | 7.8 | 3 434 665 | -1.5 | |
| General Motors | 26 539 | 0.1 | 37 080 | -28.4 | |
| Honda | 512 020 | 1.2 | 518 732 | -1.3 | |
| Hyundai | 692 271 | 1.6 | 615 888 | 12.4 | |
| Jaguar | 52 057 | 0.1 | 50 694 | 2.7 | |
| Jeep | 57 983 | 0.1 | 54 780 | 5.8 | |
| Kia | 435 480 | 1.0 | 396 614 | 9.8 | |
| Lancia | 49 274 | 0.1 | 53 209 | -7.4 | |
| Land Rover | 68 997 | 0.2 | 64 275 | 7.3 | |
| Lexus | 24 698 | 0.1 | 23 755 | 4 | |
| Mazda | 889 303 | 2.0 | 917 720 | -3.1 | |
| Mercedes | 4 042 316 | 9.3 | 3 986 528 | 1.4 | |
| MG Rover | 52 851 | 0.1 | 73 013 | -27.6 | |
| Mini | 265 208 | 0.6 | 237 319 | 11.8 | |
| Mitsubishi | 480 840 | 1.1 | 496 606 | -3.2 | |
| Nissan | 834 282 | 1.9 | 841 478 | -0.9 | |
| Opel | 5 050 495 | 11.6 | 5 199 610 | -2.9 | |
| Peugeot | 1 266 169 | 2.9 | 1 269 709 | -0.3 | |
| Porsche | 196 375 | 0.5 | 179 421 | 9.4 | |
| Renault | 1 964 788 | 4.5 | 2 010 093 | -2.3 | |
| Saab | 60 296 | 0.1 | 63 535 | -5.1 | |
| Sachsenring | 32 485 | 0.1 | 32 997 | -1.6 | |
| Seat | 786 700 | 1.8 | 754 223 | 4.3 | |
| Skoda | 1 375 673 | 3.2 | 1 269 330 | 8.4 | |
| Smart | 376 358 | 0.9 | 359 369 | 4.7 | |
| Subaru | 124 922 | 0.3 | 124 530 | 0.3 | |
| Suzuki | 444 234 | 1.0 | 436 028 | 1.9 | |
| Toyota | 1 345 483 | 3.1 | 1 341 712 | 0.3 | |
| Volvo | 442 463 | 1.0 | 434 133 | 1.9 | |
| VW | 9 276 012 | 21.4 | 9 111 542 | 1.8 | |
| Sonstige | 277 964 | 0.6 | 181 790 | ||
| TOTAL | 43 431 124 | 100.0 | 42 927 647 | 1.2 | |
| * MS = Market Share | Source: kba.de | ||||
Changes in Car Brands on German Roads in 2013
It was no surprise that Volkswagen easily still have the largest number of cars on the road in Germany or that Opel could maintain its second-place despite several years of weakening sales. Mercedes grew further ahead of Ford and broke the 4-million-car level. BMW could maintain its position above Audi, despite KBA figures excluding Mini from BMW figures from 2013 onwards.
The decline of Opel, Ford, and Renault cars on German roads was to be expected giving weak sales in recent years but all maintained their relative positions. Renault is still the most common imported brand despite the total number of Renaults in Germany now below two million. Skoda replaced Toyota as the second most common imported car brand seen on German roads.
The largest percentage declines were by General Motors, MG Rover, Chrysler, Lancia, Daihatsu, and Saab – all brands that have been relatively unimportant in Germany or withdrew completely from the market. Opel alone, saw three times more cars of its brand disappear from German roads than these six marques combined.
The largest percentage increases were by Dacia, Hyundai, Mini, Kia and Porsche. Skoda saw the largest increase in numbers with over 100,000 more Skoda cars on German roads in 2013.
