2023 (Full Year) Germany: Best-Selling Car Brands

In full-year 2023, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW were again the best-selling car brands in Germany while Skoda was again the the top foreign marque.

In full-year 2023, Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW were again the best-selling car brands in Germany while Skoda was again the the top foreign marque.
VW ID 7 © Volkswagen AG

2023 (January to December): Volkswagen easily maintained its traditional position as Germany’s largest carmaker with VW the top-selling car brand. However, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW all gained more market share. VW-owned Skoda and Seat were the favorite imported car brands with both marques also the most improved of the top ten largest car brands in Germany in 2023. Renault, Ford, and Tesla were the worst performers of the top 20 largest car brands in Germany with all selling fewer cars in 2023 than a year ago.

The total German new car market in 2023 expanded by 7.3% to 2,844,609 new passenger vehicle registrations. Volkswagen was again the best-selling car brand.

Latest German Car Sales Statistics: 2024 (Half Year) — Brands; 2023 — Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric, 2022-2007.

Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2023 (Full Year)

The following were the 60 top-selling car marques in Germany in the full calendar year 2023 according to passenger vehicle registration data released by the KBA:

BrandSales 2023Sales 2022% 22/23
TOTAL GERMAN CAR MARKET2,844,6092,651,357+7.3
1VW519,089480,967+7.9
2MERCEDES277,352243,999+13.7
3AUDI246,880213,410+15.7
4BMW233,160209,722+11.2
5SKODA168,561143,928+17.1
6OPEL144,901144,588+0.2
7SEAT132,624111,646+18.8
8FORD116,578131,256-11.2
9HYUNDAI106,381105,074+1.2
10FIAT76,53577,771-1.6
11TOYOTA75,19978,366-4.0
12KIA74,58976,139-2.0
13DACIA68,58560,390+13.6
14RENAULT68,31279,861-14.5
15TESLA63,68569,963-9.0
16PEUGEOT46,83645,220+3.6
17MAZDA46,41335,008+32.6
18MINI45,93840,142+14.4
19VOLVO44,73936,605+22.2
20CITROEN39,89436,687+8.7
21PORSCHE32,83229,315+12.0
22NISSAN31,85626,069+22.2
23SUZUKI25,12115,583+61.2
24MG ROEWE21,23215,684+35.4
25MITSUBISHI19,02034,430-44.8
26SMART17,41812,190+42.9
27JEEP15,27617,184-11.1
28LAND ROVER13,77912,148+13.4
29HONDA6,5197,709-15.4
30POLESTAR6,2887,008-10.3
31ALFA ROMEO6,1983,657+69.5
32GWM4,660+19,316.7
33SUBARU4,5963,725+23.4
34BYD4,139X
35LEXUS3,2592,746+18.7
36JAGUAR3,1983,200-0.1
37DS2,3903,955-39.6
38LYNK & CO2,2916,626-65.4
39SSANGYONG2,223+18.1
40MAN1,888+26.1
41FERRARI1,652+8.6
42NIO1,263+153.6
43MASERATI1,047-8.8
44INEOS966X
45LAMBORGHINI949-1.4
46IVECO860-2.3
47BENTLEY809-11.5
48ASTON MARTIN463+27.2
49ALPINE405+33.7
50ROLLS ROYCE344+18.2
51LOTUS321+161.0
52CADILLAC307-7.3
53FISKER239X
54LADA149-80.3
55LUCID99X
56MAXUS64X
57MORGAN60-9.1
58AIWAYS50X
59LEVC4-94.2
60DAF TRUCKS3X
SONSTIGE / OTHERS14,120
Source: KBA

Top-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2023 (Full Year)

The top four best-selling car brands in Germany in 2023 were the same as in 2023. Volkswagen narrowly outsold the broader market to increase its market share to 18.2%. VW was also the top-selling electric car brand in Germany in 2023. However, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, and BMW gained more market share with all three so-called premium luxury brands performing well.

VW-owned Skoda and Seat were the most improved top ten brands and also the top foreign brands in Germany in 2023. Each gained a rank position as Opel slipped to sixth with flat sales and Ford to eighth with sales in Germany down by 11.2%.

Hyundai maintained its ninth position despite flat sales and was again the top-selling foreign brand without any manufacturing or historical links to Germany. Fiat moved into tenth despite lower volume sales.

Renault dropped out of the top ten with the weakest performance of any top 20 brand — its performance in France in 2023 was dramatically more positive.

Tesla also dropped one rank position in Germany with sales volume lower in 2023 than in 2022.

The most-improved top-30 brands were Suzuki, Smart, and MG. The worst-performing top-30 brands in Germany in 2023 were Mitsubishi, Honda, and Renault.

The KBA increased the number of carmakers listed individually in the annual (and monthly) statistics, which would make it easier to track the performances of new brands and the expected push by Chinese carmakers into the German new car market.

German Car Sales Statistics 2023 (Full Year)

Latest German Car Sales Statistics: 2024 (Half Year) — Brands; 2023 — Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric, 2022-2007.

About the author:

Henk Bekker

Henk Bekker is a freelance writer with over 20 years of experience in online writing. His best-selling cars website has been reporting car sales statistics since 2008 with classic car auction prices focusing on the most expensive automobiles sold at public auctions in the past decade. He also owns the travel websites European-Traveler.com and Lake Geneva Switzerland. Henk holds an MBA from Edinburgh Business School and an MSc in Finance from the University of London.