In 2014, Volkswagen, Mercedes and Audi remained the top-selling car marques in Germany. The German auto market grew by 2.9% to just over 3 million cars. Germany remains the largest single-country market in Europe but the slight growth followed on a very weak 2013. While VW and Mercedes-Benz lost market share, Opel and Ford both had positive growth after a few difficult years. Porsche had the strongest growth of the major carmakers in Germany in 2014. The Volkswagen Golf was again Germany’s favorite car and remained the best-selling car in Europe in 2014.
The German Car Market in 2014 (Full Year)
New passenger vehicle (Pkw) registrations in Germany in 2014 increased by 2.9% to 3,036,773 cars. However, 2013 was the second worst year for new car sales in Germany post-1990 with the 2014 figures still well below sales in 2012 and 2011.
| Year | German Car Sales | % Change |
| 2014 | 3,036,773 | 2.9 |
| 2013 | 2,952,431 | -4.2 |
| 2012 | 3,082,504 | -2.2 |
| 2011 | 3,173,634 | 9 |
| 2010 | 2,916,260 | -23.4 |
| 2009 | 3,807,175 | 23.2 |
| 2008 | 3,090,040 | -1.8 |
| 2007 | 3,148,163 | -9.2 |
| Source: KBA |
The total German new vehicle market (including heavy vehicles, buses and motorcycles) increased by 3.1% to 3,551,475 vehicles in 2014. All changes in ownership of vehicles were flat (+0.3%) to just over 8 million transactions.
According to the VDA, car production in Germany in 2014 increased to 5,623,300 (+3%) cars of which 4,299,600 (+2%) were exported.
Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2014 (Full Year)
The top-selling car marques in Germany in 2014 according to new passenger vehicle registration statistics released by the KBA were:
| Manufacturers | Sales 2014 | % Share 2014 | % Change 14/13 | Car Sales 2013 | |
| Â | Total Market | 3,036,773 | 100 | 2.9 | 2 952 431 |
| 1 | VW | 656,494 | 21.6 | 2.2 | 642 190 |
| 2 | Mercedes | 272,566 | 9 | -1.7 | 277 373 |
| 3 | Audi | 259,459 | 8.5 | 3.0 | 251 952 |
| 4 | BMW | 238,253 | 7.8 | 2.8 | 231 815 |
| 5 | Opel | 219,084 | 7.2 | 5.6 | 207 461 |
| 6 | Ford | 209,131 | 6.9 | 5.7 | 197 794 |
| 7 | Skoda | 173,583 | 5.7 | 8.5 | 159 939 |
| 8 | Renault | 105,322 | 3.5 | 6.5 | 98 922 |
| 9 | Hyundai | 99,820 | 3.3 | -1.7 | 101 522 |
| 10 | Seat | 93,129 | 3.1 | 11.7 | 83 364 |
| 11 | Toyota | 70,267 | 2.3 | -5.1 | 74 056 |
| 12 | Fiat | 68,103 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 67 753 |
| 13 | Nissan | 62,536 | 2.1 | 13.7 | 55 019 |
| 14 | Peugeot | 54,096 | 1.8 | -1.2 | 54 736 |
| 15 | Kia | 53,546 | 1.8 | -3.8 | 55 654 |
| 16 | Mazda | 52,491 | 1.7 | 16.7 | 44 981 |
| 17 | Citroen | 52,003 | 1.7 | 7.4 | 48 442 |
| 18 | Dacia | 48,907 | 1.6 | 7.5 | 45 498 |
| 19 | Mini | 33,183 | 1.1 | -3.2 | 34 263 |
| 20 | Volvo | 31,919 | 1.1 | 16.0 | 27 517 |
| 21 | Suzuki | 27,835 | 0.9 | 3.6 | 26 863 |
| 22 | Porsche | 24,365 | 0.8 | 17.1 | 20 799 |
| 23 | Mitsubishi | 24,131 | 0.8 | 14.1 | 21 141 |
| 24 | Honda | 22,498 | 0.7 | -1.6 | 22 873 |
| 25 | Smart | 22,408 | 0.7 | -13.8 | 26 009 |
| 26 | LandRover | 14,679 | 0.5 | 18.1 | 12 425 |
| 27 | Jeep | 10,268 | 0.3 | 48.8 | 6 899 |
| 28 | Subaru | 6,218 | 0.2 | -16.6 | 7 456 |
| 29 | Chevrolet | 5,516 | 0.2 | -77.4 | 24 380 |
| 30 | Jaguar | 4,229 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 4 160 |
| 31 | AlfaRomeo | 3,391 | 0.1 | -6.5 | 3 625 |
| 32 | Lexus | 1,328 | 0 | -19.7 | 1 653 |
| 33 | Lancia | 1,262 | 0 | -21.4 | 1 606 |
| Others | 14,753 | 0.5 | 12 291 |
Best-Selling Carmakers in Germany in 2014 (Full Year)
There were no changes in the car brands on the list of the top 20 best-selling car brands in Germany in 2014 compared to 2013. Even the rank order hardly changed this year.
Volkswagen easily maintained its position as the leading carmaker in Germany in 2014 despite slightly underperforming the broader market. However, more than one in five new cars in German still wear a VW badge.
Sales of Mercedes-Benz cars were lower in Germany in 2014. Audi and BMW sales were roughly inline with the broader market allowing both marques to slightly narrow the gap to Mercedes.
Opel and Ford have struggled in Germany in recent years but both brands saw growth well above the market average in 2014 to claw back some market share.
VW-owned Skoda had another year of solid growth allowing the Czech brand to solidify its position as the largest import car brand in Germany.
Renault similarly had strong growth in 2014 and swopped places with Hyundai to become the strongest not German-owned foreign car brand in Germany. This was the only rank change amongst the top ten best-selling marques in Germany in 2014. Hyundai and Mercedes were the only top-ten best-selling car brands to have sold fewer cars in Germany in 2014 than a year ago.
VW-owned Seat had another strong year in Germany in 2014 and was the most-improved brand of the top-ten car manufacturers.
Top-20 Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2014
There were no new entries into the list of top twenty best-selling car brands in Germany in 2014.
Toyota was the worst performing brand amongst the top-20 best-selling marques but preserved 11th place ahead of Fiat. Fiat sales were flat while its Lancia and Alfa Romeo brands led the losses at the lower parts of the list.
Nissan moved up one position with strong sales while Peugeot also gained a place despite weaker sales. Kia dropped two places from a year ago. Despite strong sales, both Citroen and Dacia were leapfrogged by a resurgent Mazda – the strongest performer amongst the top 20 brands.
Mini maintained its 19th place despite weaker sales, largely caused by a changed of the main model earlier in the year. Volvo sales were much stronger in Germany in 2014.
Of the larger brands, Porsche improved the most in Germany in 2014 and gained four rank places. Only Jeep and Land Rover improved more but with much lower units.
Smart dropped three places with the weakest performance of the larger brands in 2014. The launch of the new Smart model at the end of 2014 should see its performance improve in 2015.
Sales of Chevrolet were down 77% – the brand is withdrawing from the European market.
The VW Golf was again the top-selling car model in Germany in 2014.
