Germany August 2015: BMW 2 Series shoots up to third place

Unchartered territory: the BMW 2 Series is the third best-selling nameplate at home.

* See the Top 333 best-selling models and Top 50 brands by clicking on the title *

The German new car market is up 6% year-on-year in August to 226.314 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 2.135.459 units, also up 6% on 2014. Surprisingly, Volkswagen is the only brand in the Top 12 to lose ground vs. August 2014 at -9% to 42.022 sales and 18.6% share, less than double the sales of the #2 Mercedes, up 14% to 21.895 deliveries for a 9.7% market share. Compared to last month, BMW (+8%) overtakes Audi (+1%) and Opel (+15%) while Ford (+11%), Skoda (+16%), Hyundai (+11%) and Renault (+27%) all frankly outperform the market. Outside the Top 10, notice Nissan (+22%), Kia (+14%), Smart (+131%), Suzuki (+26%), Jeep (+49%) and Jaguar (+215%) all taking off splendidly.

First Top 10 ranking in over four years for the Skoda Fabia.

In the models ranking, below the VW Golf (-10%) and Passat (+22%) we have one of the biggest surprises in the past few years in Germany: boosted by the arrival of the 7-seat Gran Tourer, the BMW 2 Series shoots up to third place overall from a previous best of #12 reached last month with 6.222 units and 2.7% share. This is unchartered territory for the Bavarian carmaker: the 2 Series Active/Gran Tourer is its  first front-engine, back-wheel-drive layout and was launched to compete with the Mercedes B-Class, obliterated last month at #19 and 2.632 units. Needless to say the 2 Series is for the 2nd straight month BMW’s best-seller at home and would still be by far even if 2 Series Coupe figures are deducted, selling more than double the 1 Series at 2.637 while the 3 Series tumbles down 44% to 2.434 units at #27.

The Seat Leon is among Germany’s Top 10 best-sellers for the first time.

The next four best-sellers all lodge 20%+ year-on-year gains: the Mercedes C-Class is up 48%, the runout-boosted Opel Astra up 69%, the Audi A4 – also in runout mode before the new generation is unveiled at Frankfurt – up 23% and the Skoda Octavia up 24%. The Skoda Fabia is up 7 spots on July to a splendid 9th position, its first German Top 10 ranking since March 2011, and the Seat Leon brilliantly breaks into the German Top 10 for the first time in the history of the nameplate with 3.202 sales and 1.4% share, beating its previous record of #12 hit last October. Notice also the Opel Mokka up 68% to #17, the Skoda Yeti up 58% to #24, Hyundai ix35/Tucson up 61% to #26, Hyundai i30 up 46% to #28, Mercedes CLA up 136% to #29, Ford Transit Tourneo up 79% to #30 and the Ford Mondeo up 151% to #37.

The new model pushes Audi Q7 sales up 5-fold year-on-year.

Among recent launches, the Audi Q7 is up 5-fold on August 2014 to #71, the Opel Karl is up 25 spots on July to hit its best German ranking yet at #81 with 821 sales, the Mazda CX-3 is up 49 ranks to #90, the Renault Kadjar up 31 to #92, the Ford Mustang is up 48 to #135, the Jaguar XE up 18 to #153 and the Subaru Levorg lands at #237 with 40 units sold for its first month in Germany.

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

One year ago: Germany August 2015: Hyundai i10 best-selling ‘true’ foreigner

Full August 2015 Top 50 brands and Top 333 models below.