Top Selling Cars in Germany (2007)

Golf Best Selling Car and Volkswagen Leading Brand in German Market

Jan 18, 2008

Top Ten Best Selling Cars in Germany - VW Golf, © Volkswagen Media Services

2007 sales statistics show the VW Golf and Passat remain the top selling cars while Volkswagen and Mercedes are the best selling brands in the German automobile market.

Data of new passenger car registrations in Germany in 2007 released by the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt confirmed that Europe’s largest automobile market shrunk by 9.2% (almost 320,000 cars). The total number of cars sold in Germany during 2007 was 3,148,163 – the worst performance since the reunification of Germany in 1990.

In 2008, the German car market would slump a further 2%.

The slump in the German car market is partly due to the increase of sales tax in Germany by 3% (to 19%) from January 2007. This increased sales at the end of 2006 severely dampened demand the first months of 2007. Demand remained weak throughout the year and not much improvement is expected for 2008.

In contrast to domestic sales, the Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA) reported that German manufacturers had a record 2007. Car production increased by 6% to a record of more than 5.7 million cars produced by German manufacturers in Germany. Exports increased by 11% to 4.3 million exported cars – the fifth consecutive record year.

The VW Golf was once again the top selling car in Germany in 2007 and Volkswagen the leading manufacturer and brand.

Statistics of Cars Sold in Germany in 2007 per Manufacturer / Brand

Volkswagen easily maintained its traditional position as leading automobile manufacturer in Germany. Volkswagen sold almost double as many cars as Mercedes, which remained the second largest manufacturer. Toyota and Renault swapping rankings was the only change in relative sales positions of the top ten manufacturers in Germany in 2007.

Skoda was the only one of the top 10 manufacturers to actually increase the number of cars sold in Germany in 2007. Skoda’s increased sales of 0.1% came to a rather minor increase of 159 cars. In contrast, Volkswagen’s domestic sales fell by over 80,000 cars.

Sales Statistics for the Best Selling Automobile Manufacturers in Germany in 2007:

Manufacturer … Cars Sold in 2007 … Cars Sold in 2006 … % Change

Volkswagen … 608,820 … 689,116 … -11.7
Mercedes … 327,742 … 342,768 … -4.4
Opel … 285,267 … 334,479 … -14.7
BMW/Mini … 284,889 … 297,457 … -4.2
Audi … 249,305 … 262,356 … -5.0
Ford … 213,873 … 243,845 … -12.3
Toyota/Lexus … 132,535 … 147,995 … -10.4
Renault … 122,978 … 149,516 … -17.7
Skoda … 118,682 … 118,523 … +0.1
Peugeot … 93,394 … 111,151 … -16.0

Statistics of Cars Sold in Germany in 2007 per Model

In 2007, the VW Golf maintained its traditional position as Germany’s best selling car. More than double as many Golfs were sold as second place car VW Passat or third placed BMW 3-Series (both unchanged from their 2006 rankings).

Of the top 20 car models sold in Germany in 2007, only the Opel Corsa and Mercedes C-Class could improve the number of cars sold – both were helped by model changes to improve sales by over 25%. Golf sales decline by 9.5% while most other models slumped by more than 10%.

The only non-German cars on the top 20 best selling cars list in Germany in 2007 were the Skoda Fabia and Skoda Octavia. However, Czech Republic-based Skoda belongs to Volkswagen with the Fabia using VW Polo underpinnings while the Octovia is based on the VW Golf platform. (US-owned Ford and Opel (GM) are considered German brands too due to factories and considerable research facilities in Germany.)

Sales Statistics for the 20 Best Selling Cars in Germany in 2007:

Car Model … No of Cars Sold in 2007 … % Change from 2006 Sales

VW Golf/Jetta … 214,368 … -9.5
VW Passat … 105,308 … -15.5
BMW 3-Series … 100,559 … -13.1
Audi A4 … 84,092 … -12.8
Opel Astra … 83,048 … -23.3
Opel Corsa … 79,098 … 29.7
Mercedes C-Class… 78,254 … 25.4
VW Polo … 76,683 … -10.5
VW Touran … 73,081 … -12.4
Audi A3 … 70,517 … -8.5
Mercedes A-Class … 62,193 … -12.8
Ford Focus … 57,546 … -20.2
Mercedes E-Class … 56,695 … -0.2
Audi A6 … 55,361 … -14.4
BMW 1-Series … 55,105 … -2.1
Mercedes B-Class … 51,484 … -18.7
Ford Fiesta … 50,807 … -13.0
Skoda Fabia … 50,328 … -7.9
BMW 5-Series … 50,024 … -1.6
Skoda Octavia … 47,711 … -15.9

Resources:

Raw Sales Statistics by the Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (KBA)
Export and Production Figures by the Verband der Automobilindustrie (VDA)

The copyright of the article Top Selling Cars in Germany (2007) in International Trade is owned by Henk Bekker. Permission to republish Top Selling Cars in Germany (2007) in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.