The VW Golf nameplate has been number one in Germany for 49 of the last 50 years.
Discover almost 95 years of German historical data here.
It’s a weak year for the German new car market, with sales down -1% year on year to 2,817,331 units. This is still significantly lower than the 2,917,678 units recorded in pandemic-hit 2020. Fleet sales account for 67.5% of the total at 1,901,698 (-0.4%) versus 67.1% in 2023, while private sales account for 32.5% versus 32.9% and 915,633 units. (-2.1%). The main story in Germany this year was the free fall in electric vehicle sales of -27.4% to 380,609 and a share of 13.5% versus 18.4% a year ago as subsidies ended.
Volkswagen (+3.4%) performs well and increases its market share by almost one percentage point to 19.1%. In contrast, Mercedes (-7%) falls to 9.2%, but remains in 2nd place. BMW (-0.1%) is stable and moved up one spot from last year to third place. Skoda rose 22% to fourth place with a 7.3% share, both records. The Czech brand achieved a record high share of 8.2% in September, its first podium finish in January and a record second place in June. Audi (-18.1%) is having a terrible year and drops two places to fifth position. Toyota (+27%) and Seat (+22%) also shine in the rest of the top 10, taking 9th and 7th places respectively. Chinese automakers are in trouble: apart from MG, the decline was only -1.2%, GWM (-35.6%), BYD (-30.2%), NIO (-68.5%), Lynk & Co (-97 %) and Aiways (-46%). ) the entire crater. Xpeng lands in 50th place and Leapmotor in 55th.
The VW Tiguan took first place in September.
In the model charts, VW Golf’s share (+23.5%) rose again to 3.6%, up from a low of 2.9% last year. It once again surpassed the 100,000 annual sales mark (just) for the first time since 2020. The Golf has now held pole position in Germany for the 44th year in a row and 49 out of the last 50 years (every year since 1975 except 1980). Mercedes W123 won) compared to “only” 29 VW Beetle victories (from 1946 to 1973). Golf held the top spot for eight months in 2024 versus seven in 2023, peaking at 4.8% in April but falling to No. 4 in August and 2.1% in July. The podium remained unchanged from last year, with the VW T-Roc (+9.8%) taking second and first place in June, July and August, and the VW Tiguan (+4.8%) taking its first monthly win in September.
The Skoda Octavia (+21.5%) climbed six places in 2023 to an all-time best fourth place, surpassing its previous record of No. 5 set in 2020. The VW Passat (+0.5%) is stable and remains in fifth place, while the Opel Astra has had a phenomenal year, rising 23rd place to sixth. In August, it even outsold the VW Golf for the first time in 32 years. This is Astra’s best annual ranking since it finished 5th in 2016. The BMW X1 (-0.2%) is up three places to No. 8 for its first annual top 10, the Seat Leon (+37.2%) is up 16 to No. 9 and the VW Polo (+6. 8%) moved up six positions to 10th place. Also note that the Skoda Karoq (+50.6%) moved up 28th place to 16th place, and entered the top ten for the first time in a month in July.
Previous year: Germany 2023: VW Golf resists T-Roc attack
2 years ago: Germany 2022: last-minute surge tilts market positive (+1.1%), VW Golf challenges again
The full list of the December 2024 Top 63 All Brands and the Top 401 All Models compared to the full year 2023 data is below.
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