2022 (Full Year) Germany: Best-Selling Car Brands

In 2022, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW were the best-selling car brands in Germany with Skoda being the favorite foreign marque.

In full-year 2022, Volkswagen easily maintained its traditional position as the best-selling car brand in Germany but lost market share. Mercedes-Benz was again the second-largest car brand in Germany. A strong performance by Audi pushed BMW from third to fourth. Skoda was the top foreign brand in Germany. Electric car brands Polestar and Tesla again gained market share. The VW Golf remained Germany’s favorite car model in 2022 despite some hiccups.

In 2022 (full year), the German new car market grew by 1.1% to 2,651,357 new passenger vehicle registrations, Volkswagen remained the best-selling brand, the VW Golf the top-selling car model, and the Tesla Model Y the favorite battery-electric car.

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

Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2022 (Full Year)

The following were the 36 top-selling car marques in Germany in the full calendar year 2022 according to passenger vehicle registration data released by the KBA:

	Brand	FY2022	FY2021	% 22/21
	German Car Market	2,651,357	2,622,132	1.1
1	VW	480,967	489,962	-1.8
2	Mercedes	243,999	225,392	8.3
3	Audi	213,410	181,877	17.3
4	BMW	209,722	222,481	-5.7
5	Opel	144,588	161,852	-10.7
6	Skoda	143,928	149,838	-3.9
7	Ford	131,256	126,358	3.9
8	Seat	111,646	108,726	2.7
9	Hyundai	105,074	106,620	-1.5
10	Renault	79,861	105,944	-24.6
11	Toyota	78,366	71,890	9.0
12	Fiat	77,771	82,783	-6.1
13	Kia	76,139	65,839	15.6
14	Tesla	69,963	39,714	76.2
15	Dacia	60,390	40,338	49.7
16	Peugeot	45,220	52,660	-14.1
17	Mini	40,142	42,938	-6.5
18	Citroen	36,687	42,636	-14.0
19	Volvo	36,605	43,616	-16.1
20	Mazda	35,008	38,107	-8.1
21	Mitsubishi	34,430	36,939	-6.8
22	Porsche	29,315	28,925	1.3
23	Nissan	26,069	26,254	-0.7
24	Jeep	17,184	13,503	27.3
25	MG Roewe	15,684	New	X
26	Suzuki	15,583	27,366	-43.1
27	Smart	12,190	24,023	-49.3
28	Land Rover	12,148	11,657	4.2
29	Honda	7,709	7,906	-2.5
30	Polestar	7,008	2,631	166.4
31	Lynx & Co	6,626	New	X
32	DS	3,955	2,069	91.2
33	Subaru	3,725	4,671	-20.3
34	Alfa Romeo	3,657	2,991	22.3
35	Jaguar	3,200	4,267	-25.0
36	Lexus	2,746	3,116	-11.9
	Source: KBA

Top-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2022 (Full Year)

For the second consecutive year, supply chain blockages, especially a global shortage in semiconductors (computer chips), heavily influenced world new car markets. Demand for almost all cars and brands outstripped supply with waiting lists for many models stretching to many months and even years. For carmakers, this provided an opportunity to cull low-profit models and to focus production on lower-emission models to prevent EU fines and higher profit margin vehicles. Car production in Germany remained at a very low level.

The rank order of best-selling brands in Germany in 2022 thus is more a reflection of which carmakers could manage to deliver vehicles rather than a reflection of the actual popularity of the various brands. The sudden increase in plug-in hybrids and battery-electric vehicles in Germany in November and especially December also confirmed that carmakers are sending cars to markets with the highest profit margins rather than where the buyers are. Expect neighboring countries to show low electric car registrations for the final months of the year.

Top Ten Car Brands in Germany in 2022 (Full Year)

Volkswagen underperformed the broader market and despite losing half a percentage market share it still provided 18.1% of all new cars registered in Germany in 2022. VW had well-published production and quality problems which led to a major top management shakeup with promises of better products to come. However, order books remained full with for example an update of the ID3 announced at the end of the year but the older version already sold out for production for the first half of 2023.

Mercedes-Benz had a stronger performance — sales up 8.3% and profits apparently even more — and although the second-largest car marque in Germany still had only half the market share of VW.

Audi was the most-improved top-ten brand in Germany in 2022 with sales up 17.3%. It regained third place for the first time in five years. BMW sales were lower and slipped to fourth.

Opel sales were down by more than a tenth but there were no other rank order changes in the top ten in Germany in 2022. Skoda sales were also lower but the VW-owned Czech brand remained the best-selling foreign car marque in Germany in 2022.

For the first time in four years, Ford increased sales in Germany in 2022. VW-owned Seat also increased sales slightly.

Hyundai sales were slightly weaker but the South-Korean brand remained the best-selling foreign brand of any carmaker without German owners or local production history. Renault sales were down by a quarter but just managed to stay in the top ten. French brands mostly struggled in Germany in 2022 as they did in France.

Toyota sales were up by 9% and just missed out on entering the top-ten list. Other Japanese brands had mostly weaker sales.

For the second consecutive year, Tesla improved five rank positions and was the leading electric car brand in Germany for the first time in three years.

Sales of Chinese brands MG Roewe and Lynx & Co were listed separately on the basic German car sales data.

The most-improved brands in Germany in 2022 were Polestar, DS, Tesla, and Dacia.

The worst-performing car brands in Germany in 2022 were Smart, Suzuki, and Jaguar. Jaguar sold only a third of the number of cars it managed in Germany in 2017.

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