2020 (Q3) Germany: Best-Selling Car Brands and Models

2020 (Q1-Q3) — Volkswagen was again the best-selling car brand in Germany but Mercedes-Benz and BMW gained market share. The VW Golf remained the top-selling model.

January to September 2020: new passenger vehicle registrations in Germany contracted by 25% to just over two million cars. Volkswagen remained the largest carmaker in Germany but both Mercedes-Benz and BMW gained market share. Opel was the worst-performing major car brand in Germany thus far in 2020 while Tesla was the only brand to register an increase in sales.

German Car Sales Statistics — 2022: Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric; 2021: Market, Brands, Models, Electric; 2020: Market, Brands, Models, Electric; 2019: Market, Brands, Models, Electric

German New Car Market in 2020 (Q1-Q3)

The German new car market contracted by 25.5% during the first nine months of 2020 to only 2,041,831 cars — nearly 700,000 fewer than during the same period in 2019. Although sales increased by 8.4% in September 2020, this was the exception (and partly due to weak sales a year ago) and the only month this year with sales markedly stronger than last year.

Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2020 (Q1-Q3)

New passenger vehicle registrations in Germany in the period January to September 2020 were as follows according to the KBA:

	Brand	Q1-Q3/2020	Q1-3/2019	Q1-3/2018	% Change 19/20
	Total	2,041,831	2,740,158	2,673,418	-25.5
1	VW	367,181	498,481	511,927	-26.3
2	Mercedes	207,014	248,093	234,134	-16.6
3	BMW	168,927	202,506	192,195	-16.6
4	Audi	154,140	214,039	217,709	-28.0
5	Ford	139,939	211,324	189,326	-33.8
6	Skoda	127,790	161,385	153,022	-20.8
7	Opel	95,453	175,227	173,876	-45.5
8	Seat	84,893	109,160	96,533	-22.2
9	Renault	84,268	99,347	105,235	-15.2
10	Hyundai	71,916	98,065	87,511	-26.7
11	Fiat	65,553	71,812	66,437	-8.7
12	Toyota	52,207	65,274	65,512	-20.0
13	Kia	46,953	53,081	51,036	-11.5
14	Peugeot	39,234	54,628	53,073	-28.2
15	Mitsubishi	36,174	40,399	39,452	-10.5
16	Citroen	35,966	47,705	44,464	-24.6
17	Dacia	33,813	63,659	58,759	-46.9
18	Volvo	32,317	38,355	30,566	-15.7
19	Mini	31,686	36,313	36,638	-12.7
20	Mazda	28,972	51,710	51,330	-44.0
21	Nissan	25,325	28,908	42,519	-12.4
22	Porsche	18,036	23,085	25,556	-21.9
23	Suzuki	15,627	28,416	28,131	-45.0
24	Jeep	11,388	12,664	13,107	-10.1
25	Tesla	11,217	9,008	1,616	24.5
26	Land Rover	9,220	13,516	14,322	-31.8
27	Honda	8,173	11,672	15,091	-30.0
28	Smart	7,514	34,906	30,485	-78.5
29	Jaguar	5,195	6,840	7,877	-24.0
30	Subaru	4,286	4,444	5,846	-3.6
31	Lexus	2,364	2,719	2,057	-13.1
32	Alfa Romeo	2,144	2,982	4,625	-28.1
33	DS	1,936	2,123	3,151	-8.8
34	Ssangyong	1,353	1,936	2,006	-30.1
	Source: KBA

Top-Selling Carmakers in Germany in 2020 (Q1-Q3)

Volkswagen easily maintained its position as Germany’s largest carmaker during the first nine months of 2020. However, VW slightly underperformed and its market share dropped to 18%.

In contrast, both Mercedes-Benz and BMW gained market share with sales down only 16.6%. Mercedes increased its share of the German new car market to just over 10% while BMW increased two rank positions from a year ago.

Audi and Ford dropped one rank position each with sales below the market average. Ford sales in Germany were down by a third. Opel was the worst-performing top car brand thus far in 2020 in Germany with sales down 46%.

VW-owned Skoda and Seat remained the two top car importers in Germany and both gained market share. However, Renault was the best-performing top-ten brand in Germany with sales down by only 15.1%.

Hyundai maintained tenth place despite weak sales. Fiat was the best-performing top-20 brand.

Tesla was the only brand with higher volume sales in Germany thus far in 2020. Although Tesla sales were up by a quarter, it improved only three rank positions and remain a minor — if highly visual and influential — brand in Germany.

The worst-performing car brand in Germany thus far in 2020 was Smart with sales down nearly 80%. Ironically Smart went electric-only in 2020 but found itself without stock just when German buyers wanted electric cars the most.

Best-Selling Car Models in Germany in 2020 (Q1-Q3)

The 20 most-registered new passenger vehicles by model in Germany during the first three quarters of 2020 according to the KBA were:

	Car Model	Q1-3/2020	Q1-3/2019
1	VW GOLF	101,023	149,701
2	VW TIGUAN	45,733	65,358
3	VW PASSAT	41,348	42,927
4	FORD FOCUS	38,406	46,577
5	FIAT DUCATO	36,492	–
6	SKODA OCTAVIA	36,405	43,801
7	VW T-ROC	34,568	46,847
8	OPEL CORSA	33,546	40,558
9	VW POLO	32,203	46,938
10	BMW 3ER	32,093	–
11	MINI MINI	31,686	–
12	MERCEDES A-CLASS	30,215	–
13	MERCEDES C-CLASS	29,802	49,131
14	MERCEDES GLK, GLC	28,266	–
15	SEAT LEON	27,919	–
16	AUDI A4, S4, RS4	26,456	41,494
17	FORD FIESTA	25,248	–
18	AUDI A6, S6, RS6	23,481	–
19	AUDI A3, S3, RS3	23,205	–
20	BMW 1 SERIES	22,467	–
	Source: KBA

Top-Ten Car Models in Germany

Despite small problems with delivering the Golf 8 earlier in the year, the VW Golf easily maintained its position as Germany (and Europe’s) best-selling car model during the first nine months of 2020. Volkswagen sold more than double as many Golfs as second-placed Tiguans.

The Tiguan is the top-selling Volkswagen model worldwide but in Germany was the second best-selling car model for the third consecutive year.

All other top-ten cars in Germany changed rank positions compared to a year ago. The Passat improved from eighth to third with sales almost on par with a year ago. The new Ford Focus improved two positions.

The Fiat Ducato is a new entrant. Sales of the best-selling mobile home ballooned ever since the first lockdowns were announced and many Germans clearly decided vacationing in their own, or rented, mobile home is a better option than booking a hotel or holiday home.

The Skoda Octavia improved one position while the VW T-Roc slipped two. The Opel Corsa improved from tenth to eighth and for the first time in years outsold the VW Polo, which slipped from fourth to its worst position in ages.

The BMW 3-Series reentered the top ten list at tenth.

Remarkably, there were no Mercedes-Benz or Audi models amongst the top-ten best-selling car models in Germany during the first three quarters of 2020. Both manufacturers had three cars each in the 10th to 20th positions. Last year’s third best-selling car model, the Mercedes-Benz C-Class, slipped to 13th.

The best-selling electric car model in Germany was the Renault Zoe with 15,730 sold thus far this year — good enough for 43rd best-selling car model.