Top-selling car makes during the first nine months of 2013 in Germany remained Volkswagen, Mercedes, Audi and BMW.
New passenger vehicle registrations in Germany continue to contract but at a slower pace during the third quarter of 2013. Total car sales in Germany for the period January to September 2013 declined by 6% compared to a year ago. Sales in Q3 in Germany were down but not as drastically as during the first half of 2013. Volkswagen remains the strongest car brand in Germany with over a fifth of the market but underperformed the broader market during the first nine months of 2013. Mercedes saw a slight increased in sales while Audi and BMW outperformed the market but with weaker sales than a year ago. Skoda became Germany’s favorite imported car brand while the VW Golf remains the best-selling single car model in Germany.
The German New Car Market in 2013 (Q3)
New car registrations in Germany during the first nine months of 2013 contracted by 6% to 2,217,019 new passenger vehicle registrations. Sales during the third quarter of 2013 were less sharply down compared to the first half of 2013, which saw sales contracting by 8%. Car sales in July were marginally positive (+2.1%), in August down (-5.5%) and in September fairly flat (-1.2%).
Total motorized vehicle registrations in Germany during the first three quarters of 2013 were down (-5.8%) to 2,596,385 vehicles. The one sector with positive growth was new buses (+3% year to date but +38.6% in September) – the liberalization of the German long-distance bus market at the start of the year led to a vast increase in the number of bus operators.
Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2013 (Q3)
New passenger vehicle registration figures released by the KBA show the following car marques as the best-selling car brands in Germany during the first nine months of 2013:
| Car_Manufacturer | Cars_Sold | % Share | % Change | |
| 1 | VW | 470,638 | 21.2 | -8.6 |
| 2 | Mercedes | 212,066 | 9.6 | 0.5 |
| 3 | Audi | 191,110 | 8.6 | -5.0 |
| 4 | BMW | 175,790 | 7.9 | -3.4 |
| 5 | Opel | 157,260 | 7.1 | -6.4 |
| 6 | Ford | 146,188 | 6.6 | -7.7 |
| 7 | Skoda | 116,232 | 5.2 | 2.2 |
| 8 | Hyundai | 76,392 | 3.4 | 0.6 |
| 9 | Renault | 72,732 | 3.3 | -8.8 |
| 10 | Seat | 61,885 | 2.8 | 24.8 |
| 11 | Toyota | 55,165 | 2.5 | -11.1 |
| 12 | Fiat | 53,116 | 2.4 | -6.8 |
| 13 | Kia | 43,323 | 2.0 | 3.6 |
| 14 | Peugeot | 41,779 | 1.9 | -26.5 |
| 15 | Nissan | 39,995 | 1.8 | -18.2 |
| 16 | Citroen | 38,006 | 1.7 | -22.4 |
| 17 | Mazda | 34,783 | 1.6 | 8.0 |
| 18 | Dacia | 34,468 | 1.6 | 1.7 |
| 19 | Mini | 26,547 | 1.2 | -6.5 |
| 20 | Volvo | 20,777 | 0.9 | -17.5 |
| 21 | Chevrolet | 20,377 | 0.9 | -12.0 |
| 22 | Smart | 19,744 | 0.9 | -10.5 |
| 23 | Suzuki | 19,586 | 0.9 | -19.1 |
| 24 | Honda | 17,869 | 0.8 | -13.2 |
| 25 | Mitsubishi | 16,428 | 0.7 | -11.3 |
| 26 | Porsche | 16,366 | 0.7 | 0.9 |
| 27 | Land Rover | 9,467 | 0.4 | 14.3 |
| 28 | Subaru | 6,485 | 0.3 | -7.3 |
| 29 | Jeep | 4,857 | 0.2 | -4.3 |
| 30 | Jaguar | 3,289 | 0.1 | 35.5 |
| 31 | Alfa Romeo | 2,695 | 0.1 | -55.3 |
| 32 | Lancia | 1,207 | 0.1 | -52.2 |
| 33 | Lexus | 1,130 | 0.1 | -48.9 |
| Others | 9,267 | 0.4 | ||
| Total | 2,217,019 | 100.0 | -6.0 |
Source: KBA
Top-Selling Car Marques in Germany in 2013 (Q3)
Volkswagen continued to underperform the overall new car market in Germany but comfortably remained the strongest car brand in Germany. During the first nine months of 2012, VW had a market share of 21.8%, which has now shrunk to 21.2% this year.
Mercedes-Benz maintained its second place with flat but positive growth during the first three quarters of 2013. Mercedes increased market share by 0.6% compared to a year ago but still less than half VW’s share.
Audi and BMW both had negative figures but outperformed the broader market. Audi and BMW swapped places largely due to BMW and Mini being listed separately from 2013.
Opel and Ford maintained their relative positions but both continued to underperform the general car market.
VW-owned Skoda became Germany’s favorite imported car brand. Both Skoda and Hyundai had positive growth during the first three quarters of 2013 to overtake Renault, which for years was the most popular imported car brand in Germany.
VW-owned Seat increased sales by a quarter to improve four places and to replace Toyota in the top-ten list of the most popular car brands in Germany during the January to September 2013 period.
A few other salient features lower down the rankings:
Jaguar (+35.5%) was the most improved brand and the only manufacturer to have show better growth than Seat. Sister brand Land Rover (+14.3%) completed the list of the three brands showing double-digit growth thus far in 2013.
Ten brands saw positive growth although the gains were generally small. The red ink was not only more frequent but declines much deeper. Alfa Romeo, Lancia and Lexus saw sales cut by half while even major brands such as Peugeot and Citroen saw sales slip by a quarter.
