2025 Germany: Most Common Car Models on German Roads

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As of early 2025, the most common car models registered for road use in Germany are the Volkswagen Golf, VW Polo, and Opel Corsa.

As of early 2025, the most common car models registered for road use in Germany are the Volkswagen Golf, VW Polo, and Opel Corsa.
© Volkswagen AG

The total number of passenger cars registered for use on public roads in Germany, as of 1 January 2025, amounted to 49,339,166 cars (PKW) — a 0.5% increase from 49,098,685 in 2024. The most common brands were Volkswagen, Mercedes, and Opel. Only three car models were registered over a million times: the Volkswagen Golf, VW Polo, and Opel Corsa.

Latest German Car Sales Statistics: 2025 (Q1): Brands, Models, Electric Cars; 2024: Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric Cars; 2023-2007.

50 Most Common Car Models in Germany in 2025

The car models and names most frequently seen on German roads as of 1 January 2025, according to passenger vehicle registration data released by the KBA, were:

–MODEL20252024% Change
–TOTAL49,339,16649,098,6850.5
1VW GOLF3,330,3203,411,382-2.4
2VW POLO1,337,3841,365,575-2.1
3OPEL CORSA1,127,3141,144,551-1.5
4MERCEDES C-KLASSE964,528988,832-2.5
5OPEL ASTRA952,667979,545-2.7
6BMW 3ER930,205960,944-3.2
7VW PASSAT912,125934,576-2.4
8SKODA FABIA816,522814,9750.2
9AUDI A4797,646821,112-2.9
10VW TIGUAN788,533747,4825.5
11FORD FIESTA760,653798,126-4.7
12FORD FOCUS725,923755,159-3.9
13SKODA OCTAVIA719,711712,4981.0
14AUDI A3718,245728,004-1.3
15MERCEDES A-KLASSE627,768645,056-2.7
16MERCEDES E-KLASSE625,722633,277-1.2
17VW TOURAN608,990618,114-1.5
18VW TRANSPORTER602,850596,2911.1
19MINI MINI575,108562,0832.3
20BMW 1ER567,989575,520-1.3
21BMW 5ER486,707494,673-1.6
22SEAT LEON464,898443,5904.8
23MERCEDES B-KLASSE458,012461,528-0.8
24AUDI A6449,062451,054-0.4
25VW CADDY440,158435,1411.2
26FIAT DUCATO418,554397,0145.4
27SEAT IBIZA408,167405,6760.6
28FIAT 500406,518398,5352.0
29TOYOTA YARIS386,178379,6121.7
30VW UP379,533383,705-1.1
31SMART FORTWO379,431390,268-2.8
32FORD KUGA365,181362,0180.9
33VW T-ROC361,728296,79421.9
34RENAULT CLIO343,359354,435-3.1
35BMW X1333,371309,7507.6
36OPEL MERIVA317,717337,016-5.7
37RENAULT TWINGO312,040328,536-5.0
38HYUNDAI I 30309,918307,1670.9
39MERCEDES GLK, GLC304,857291,8664.5
40DACIA SANDERO302,033279,8557.9
41OPEL MOKKA277,002266,7393.8
42BMW X3272,299261,9583.9
43NISSAN QASHQAI270,765271,596-0.3
44HYUNDAI I 10259,860250,0813.9
45BMW 2ER258,605245,5345.3
46OPEL ZAFIRA249,176272,639-8.6
47KIA CEED247,229233,8225.7
48HYUNDAI I 20232,297226,1282.7
49DACIA DUSTER230,760216,8026.4
50HYUNDAI TUCSON225,345210,4007.1

Germany’s Favorite Car Models (2025)

The Volkswagen Golf, Germany’s best-selling car model for every calendar year since 1981, is not surprisingly the car model most frequently seen on German roads. At the start of 2025, 6.75% of all cars registered for use on German roads were VW Golfs. However, as the Golf has been less dominant in new car sales in recent years, the total number of Golfs in Germany has declined by 2.4% since the start of 2024.

Only two other car models, the VW Polo and Opel Corsa, had more than a million vehicles on German roads in 2025. Both of these small cars are also waning in popularity with the Corsa only the 7th most popular new car model in Germany in 2024 and the Polo only 10th. The small Ford Fiesta, which was taken off the market, dropped out of the top ten while the Skoda Fabia improved one rank position with a higher number of cars in Germany.

The only other top 10 model with an increase in the number of cars registered in Germany was the VW Tiguan. It is also the most popular SUV on German roads — although the official designation is Geländewagen (Cross-Country Vehicle). The number of Tiguans in Germany increased by 5.5% — the biggest increase in 2025 of all the top 30 models.

Among the top 50 most popular car models in Germany at the start of 2025, the highest percentage increase in numbers was for the VW T-Roc. The biggest drop was for the Opel Zafira and Opel Meriva.

The Volkswagen Beetle was the 108th most common car model in Germany with 106,832 registered for use on German roads at the start of 2025. Although that was a 3.4% drop from the 110,636 registered in 2024, the Beetle climbed three rank positions.

Most Common Electric Car Models in Use in Germany in 2025

The five most common electric car models currently on German roads are:

ElectricAllElectric Car Model20252024% Change
1118TESLA MODEL Y97,60871,77436.0
2125VW ID.391,81377,69918.2
3135VW ID.4, ID.582,42069,54718.5
4136RENAULT ZOE81,29283,295-2.4
5138TESLA MODEL 380,43679,6900.9

The Tesla Model Y is the most common electric car model in Germany but it is only 118th in overall popularity. Both the VW ID3 and ID4 are now seen more frequently than the Renault Zoe. The Zoe is no longer on the market as a new car and its drop is in line, or even slower than petrol car models that are still being sold new.

Electric car models should climb the ranking relatively fast in the coming years, as these cars are mostly new and the change in subsidies at the end of 2023 means electric cars are no longer quickly sold off to other markets.

More German Car Sales Statistics

Latest German Car Sales Statistics: 2024: Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric Cars; 2023-2007.

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.