2025 (Half Year): The best-selling car brands in Germany were Volkswagen, Mercedes, and BMW with the VW Golf, T-Roc, and Tiguan the top-selling models.
New passenger vehicle registrations in Germany contracted by nearly 5% during the first half of 2025, but all-electric car sales increased by more than a third. Volkswagen was the largest car brand and the best-selling electric car brand in Germany during the first six months of 2025. Mercedes-Benz was again second, followed by BMW, Skoda, and Audi. The VW Golf remained Germany’s best-selling new car model thus far in 2025 while the VW ID7 was the top-selling electric car model.
Latest German Car Sales Statistics: 2025 HY: Brands & Models, Electric; (Q1): Brands, Models, Electric Cars; 2024: Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric Cars; 2023-2007.
German New Car Market in 2025 (Half Year)
The total German motorized vehicle (Kraftfahrzeuge) market contracted by 8.2% to 1,685,212 vehicles (KFZ) during the first six months of 2025. The largest component, new passenger vehicle registrations (Personenkraftfahrzeuge), contracted by a smaller 4.7% to 1,402,789 cars (PKW) compared to 1,471,641 cars sold during the first six months of 2024.
Sales of battery-electric vehicles (BEV) increased by a stronger 35.1% during the first half of 2025. However, all-electric car sales in Germany at the start of 2024 were particularly weak following the unexpected change in government subsidies in December 2023. BEV had an 18.4% market share in Germany during the first half of 2025 compared to 17.7% in the first six months of 2024.
Top 40 Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2025 (First Half)
The 40 top-selling car marques in Germany during the first half of 2025, according to the KBA, were:
| Brand | 2025 (HY) | % Share | % Change | |
| INSGESAMT / TOTAL | 1,402,789 | 100.0 | -4.7 | |
| 1 | VW | 285,998 | 20.4 | -1.1 |
| 2 | MERCEDES | 126,964 | 9.1 | +0.1 |
| 3 | BMW | 119,084 | 8.5 | +3.8 |
| 4 | SKODA | 108,996 | 7.8 | +4.6 |
| 5 | AUDI | 97,731 | 7.0 | -6.2 |
| 6 | SEAT | 83,858 | 6.0 | +0.5 |
| 7 | OPEL | 61,473 | 4.4 | -20.4 |
| 8 | FORD | 53,159 | 3.8 | +3.8 |
| 9 | HYUNDAI | 46,399 | 3.3 | -6.5 |
| 10 | TOYOTA | 39,521 | 2.8 | -11.7 |
| 11 | DACIA | 35,456 | 2.5 | -7.2 |
| 12 | VOLVO | 31,889 | 2.3 | +0.4 |
| 13 | PEUGEOT | 30,388 | 2.2 | -7.0 |
| 14 | KIA | 29,986 | 2.1 | -16.5 |
| 15 | RENAULT | 28,754 | 2.0 | +8.5 |
| 16 | FIAT | 27,818 | 2.0 | -21.1 |
| 17 | CITROEN | 24,839 | 1.8 | -20.9 |
| 18 | MAZDA | 20,287 | 1.4 | -15.4 |
| 19 | NISSAN | 17,218 | 1.2 | +4.6 |
| 20 | PORSCHE | 16,513 | 1.2 | -24.5 |
| 21 | MINI | 15,233 | 1.1 | +1.8 |
| 22 | MITSUBISHI | 12,604 | 0.9 | -24.7 |
| 23 | SUZUKI | 11,759 | 0.8 | -5.8 |
| 24 | MG ROEWE | 11,520 | 0.8 | -15.3 |
| 25 | TESLA | 8,890 | 0.6 | -58.2 |
| 26 | LAND ROVER | 6,863 | 0.5 | +2.7 |
| 27 | JEEP | 6,772 | 0.5 | +6.5 |
| 28 | BYD | 6,323 | 0.5 | +426.0 |
| 29 | ALFA ROMEO | 3,952 | 0.3 | +6.6 |
| 30 | HONDA | 3,688 | 0.3 | +2.7 |
| 31 | LEXUS | 2,504 | 0.2 | +13.4 |
| 32 | SUBARU | 2,212 | 0.2 | -1.1 |
| 33 | LEAPMOTOR | 2,067 | 0.1 | X |
| 34 | GWM | 1,954 | 0.1 | +42.1 |
| 35 | SMART | 1,950 | 0.1 | -77.2 |
| 36 | POLESTAR | 1,915 | 0.1 | +20.8 |
| 37 | DS | 1,696 | 0.1 | +6.7 |
| 38 | KGM | 1,560 | 0.1 | +40.9 |
| 39 | XPENG | 1,065 | 0.1 | +3,335.5 |
| 40 | FERRARI | 995 | 0.1 | -11.3 |
Best-Selling Car Brands in Germany in 2025 (Half Year)
Volkswagen remained by far the largest car brand in Germany. During the first half of 2025, VW sales were slightly weaker, but VW still gained market share to provide just over a fifth of all new cars sold in Germany. Volkswagen was also the best-selling electric car brand with an even larger share of the all-electric car market in Germany in 2025.
The rank order of the top ten largest car brands in Germany during the first semester of 2025 was unchanged from a year ago. Mercedes-Benz and Seat sales were flat while BMW, Skoda, and Ford made some gains. Audi sales were weaker while Toyota sales were down by a tenth and Opel sales were down by a fifth.
The worst-performing car brands in Germany during the first half of 2025 were the all-electric car brands Smart and Tesla. While electric car sales made strong gains in Germany during the first six months of 2025, Tesla sales were down almost 60% while Smart sales fell by 77% to an insignificant 1,950 cars.
Of the largest car brands, Renault made the most gains with car sales up 8.5% in Germany during the first half of 2025. The largest percentage gains were by smaller and new Chinese brands such as BYD and Xpeng, which are new to the German market. BYD gained 9 rank positions from a year ago.
Top 30 Best-Selling Car Models in Germany in 2025 (First Half)
The 30 top-selling car models in Germany during the first half of 2025, according to the KBA, were:
| – | BRAND | MODEL | 1-6/2025 | *% of Brand |
| – | TOTAL SALES | 1,402,789 | 100.0 | |
| 1 | VW | GOLF | 43,707 | 15.3 |
| 2 | VW | T-ROC | 38,626 | 13.5 |
| 3 | VW | TIGUAN | 34,102 | 11.9 |
| 4 | VW | PASSAT | 23,839 | 8.3 |
| 5 | OPEL | CORSA | 23,154 | 37.7 |
| 6 | SKODA | OCTAVIA | 22,770 | 20.9 |
| 7 | BMW | X1 | 22,649 | 19.0 |
| 8 | SEAT | LEON | 19,954 | 23.8 |
| 9 | FIAT | DUCATO | 19,124 | 68.7 |
| 10 | AUDI | A6 | 18,974 | 19.4 |
| 11 | BMW | 5ER | 18,134 | 15.2 |
| 12 | VW | ID.7 | 18,017 | 6.3 |
| 13 | MERCEDES-BENZ | GLK, GLC | 17,781 | 14.0 |
| 14 | VW | TRANSPORTER | 17,286 | 6.0 |
| 15 | OPEL | ASTRA | 16,892 | 27.5 |
| 16 | MERCEDES-BENZ | E-KLASSE | 15,837 | 12.5 |
| 17 | SEAT | FORMENTOR | 15,807 | 18.8 |
| 18 | VW | T-CROSS | 15,667 | 5.5 |
| 19 | BMW | 3ER | 15,456 | 13.0 |
| 20 | MINI | MINI | 15,233 | 100.0 |
| 21 | AUDI | A3 | 15,079 | 15.4 |
| 22 | VW | ID.4, ID.5 | 15,072 | 5.3 |
| 23 | VW | ID.3 | 14,623 | 5.1 |
| 24 | SKODA | KODIAQ | 14,272 | 13.1 |
| 25 | DACIA | SANDERO | 14,134 | 39.9 |
| 26 | MERCEDES-BENZ | C-KLASSE | 13,845 | 10.9 |
| 27 | VW | POLO | 13,583 | 4.7 |
| 28 | SKODA | KAROQ | 13,436 | 12.3 |
| 29 | SKODA | ENYAQ | 12,973 | 11.9 |
| 30 | TOYOTA | YARIS | 12,953 | 32.8 |
NOTE: *% of Brand: the model’s percentage of the brand’s sales, i.e. the importance of the model for the specific brand.
The VW Golf was again the top-selling car model in Germany with the top four most popular car models in Germany thus far in 2025 Volkswagen models. The Opel Corsa was the top-selling non-VW in Germany.
The Skoda Octavia was the favorite imported car. Although Skoda (and Seat) are owned by VW, both are considered imported brands while Opel (and Ford) are traditionally seen as German brands. The Fiat Ducato was the best-selling foreign brand with no historic, ownership, or manufacturing relationship to Germany.
The VW ID7 was Germany’s favorite electric car model and the 12th best-selling model overall during the first half of 2025..
Latest German Car Sales Statistics: 2025 HY: Brands & Models, Electric; (Q1): Brands, Models, Electric Cars; 2024: Market Overview, Brands, Models, Electric Cars; 2023-2007.
