Germany July 2015: 2 Series BMW’s best-seller, closes in on Top 10

August 8, 2015
Matt Gasnier

The 2 Series is now BMW’s best-seller at home.

* See the Top 50 best-selling brands and Top 326 models by clicking on the title *

German new car sales are up a robust 7% year-on-year to 290.196 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 1.909.145 units, up 5.5% or over 100.000 sales on 2014. A very satisfying result indeed. It’s a very stable brands ranking as usual in Germany, with only two differences compared to the year-to-date Top 15. Volkswagen (+6%), Mercedes (+7%), Audi (+7%) and Opel (+6%) all move like the market, which means BMW (+1%) is stuck in 5th place below Opel like in June. In 6th place, Ford (-1%) is the only manufacturer in the Top 12 to lose ground on a year ago. Renault (+10%), Fiat (+11%), Porsche (+25%), Mazda (+27%), Land Rover (+28%), Nissan (+34%), Mitsubishi (+44%), Jeep (+45%), Jaguar (+55%) and Smart (+81%) all outpace the market.

The VW Passat hits its best monthly volume in over 8 years.

Model-wise, below the VW Golf flying at stratospheric heights and up 14% to 25.394 sales partly thanks to the addition of the Sportsvan variant, the next 6 best-sellers manage the outstanding feat of all gaining more than 20% year-on-year. The VW Passat up 54% to 11.355 units breaks a few milestones. For the first time since March 2012 we have two nameplates above 10.000 monthly sales in Germany – the last one was the VW Polo at 10.352 sales. This is the biggest monthly score for any non-Golf nameplate since July 2009 when the Opel Astra hit 12.228 deliveries in the midst of an aggressive scrappage scheme. Finally, this is the Passat’s best monthly score in over 8 years: since the 11.612 units it clocked up in March 2007.

Mercedes C-Class sales are up 67% on July 2014.

In third position, the Mercedes C-Class is even more impressive with sales up 67% on a year ago to 7.281 units, now getting dangerously close to the VW Polo for the third spot year-to-date at 40.904 units vs. 41.788. Below the VW Polo up 23% at #4, the Audi A4 enjoys a discount-fuelled month up 33% to #5 in the wake of the presentation of the new generation in Frankfurt in September. Same goes for the Opel Astra up 32% to #7 just below the Skoda Octavia which can’t stop climbing at +30% in 6th place. One of the biggest surprises of the month is found just outside the Top 10: with sales up 6-fold year-on-year to 4.104 at #12, the BMW 2 Series becomes the brand’s best-seller for the very first time in Germany and in any other country in the world thanks to the arrival of the larger Gran Tourer. Note this figure includes the 2 Series Coupe without which the 2 Series nameplate would fall behind the 1 Series (4.081).

The new model boosts Audi Q7 sales 4-fold on a year ago.

Further down, notice the Seat Ibiza up 31% to #26, the Nissan Qashqai up 26% to #27, Opel Mokka up 48% to #28, the Mercedes V-Class breaking into the German Top 30 for the first time at #28 after breaking into the Top 50 in May and the Top 40 in June, the Mercedes CLA up 172% to #31 thanks to the Shooting Brake variant, the Ford Mondeo up 29 spots on June and 45% year-on-year to #41, the Renault Twingo up 31% to #42 and the Audi Q7 up 4-fold to #74. This month we welcome back the Ford Mustang in the German sales charts at #183 with 196 sales and the Ferrari 488 GTB at #280 with 11 units finding a new home.

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