Germany Private Sales May 2014: Podium 100% Volkswagen

6 in every 10 VW Tiguan purchased in Germany is a Private Sale.

* See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on the title! *

As an appetiser before the overall May data is published, we explore the sales to private buyers in the country, which traditionally paints a very different picture. German Private Sales (PS) data is always a little controversial because of its definition here: are counted as private the cars sold to private buyers. Demo cars, rental cars and long-term leases are not counted as private along with cars sold to companies. This explains the fact that as cars become more expensive, their PS ratio tends to drop: a lot of them are actually on a long-term lease, which can be argued is also a private ‘sale’. In May there were 102,502 new Private Sales in Germany, a PS ratio of 37.3%, almost identical to April (37.5%).

The Skoda Fabia is the 5th most popular car with German Private Buyers so far in 2014.

Volkswagen monopolises the PS podium in May with the VW Golf at 5,149 sales and 25.6% PS ahead of the Tiguan at 3,491 and 58.7% and the Polo at 2,248 and 55.9%. In fact the entire Top 5 is identical to the year-to-date ranking, demonstrating an extreme stability in German private consumers’ tastes. The Mercedes B-Class ranks 4th at 63.2% PS and the Skoda Fabia is back up 4 spots on April to #5. The Audi A3 is up 5 to #6, the VW Up is up one further spot to reach a brilliant 7th spot while the Ford Focus is up 10 to #8 and the Mercedes E-Class up 2 to #10.

72.2% of Peugeot 2008 buyers are private vs. a national average of 37.3%.

The models with the highest PS ratio inside the Top 100 are the Dacia Sandero at 89.7% (#15) , Dacia Duster at 88.1% (#16), Dacia Logan at 77.4% (#53), Skoda Yeti at 72.8% (#13), Peugeot 2008 at an astounding 72.2% (#49) and the Fiat Punto at 70.2% (#87). At the other end of the scale, we have the VW Passat at 7.3% (#68), Audi A4 at 12.1% (#56), Audi A6 at 13.1% (#69) and the BMW 5 Series at 13.6% (#65).

Previous month: Germany Private Sales April 2014: Mercedes B-Class back up to #4

One year ago: Germany Private Sales June 2013: Dacia Sandero at 93%

Full May 2014 Top 100 models Ranking Table below.