Germany January 2017: Mercedes above 10%, BMW X1 up to record #7

February 11, 2017
Matt Gasnier

The BMW X1 smashes its ranking record at home from #19 to #7.

* See the Top 50 All-brands and Top 315 All-models by clicking on the title *

German new car sales are up 5.5% to 241.399 units in January thanks to two extra selling days compared to January 2016. Market leader Volkswagen follows the market at +5% to 20.5% share but Mercedes quadruples the market growth rate at +20% to 24.372 deliveries, crossing the symbolic 10% market share barrier for the second time in the past three months (10.3% in November 2016) and the third time in the past six months (10.1% in August 2016). Audi is stable at -0.3% to 9% share but BMW shoots up 19% to 8.4% share. Opel (+4%) and Ford (+6%) remain a fair distance away, followed by Skoda (+28%), Renault (+26%), Hyundai (+14%) and Seat (+11%). Outside the Top 10, Volvo (+11%), Mitsubishi (+14%), Mini (+15%), Smart (+18%), Peugeot (+22%), Suzuki (+22%), Dacia (+23%), Fiat (+25%), Toyota (+30%), Lada (+72%), Jaguar (+76%), Aston Martin (+87%), Cadillac (+90%), Maserati (+109%), Lexus (+148%), Bentley (+169%) and Tesla (+287%) are among the best performing manufacturers.

Mercedes E-Class sales are up 80% year-on-year in Germany in January.

Model-wise, the VW Golf drops 13% to just 5.9% share vs. 7% over the Full Year 2016, with Volkswagen monopolising the Top 4 for the second time in the past 12 months alongside with last October. The VW Passat is up 12% to #2, the VW Tiguan up 51% to #3 and the Polo up 1% to #4, distancing the Mercedes C-Class up a robust 24% to #5 and the Opel Astra up 7% to #6. But the main headline in Germany this month is the stunning 7th place of the BMW X1 up 177% year-on-year to 5.120 sales, smashing its previous ranking record of #19 established back in November 2014. The X1 is BMW’s best-seller in Germany for the first time this month, accounting for 25% of the brand’s sales and well ahead the 2 Series (#11), 1 Series (#17) and 3 Series (#24). Even more impressive – and rare for luxury models: the success of the X1 is reliant on its popularity with private buyers: it shot from #50 to #13 in the private sales models ranking in 2016.

The Seat Ateca hits a best-ever 41st place this month in Germany.

Other strong performers near the top of the models charts include the Audi A4 (+35%), Skoda Octavia (+31%), Skoda Fabia (+45%), Mercedes E-Class (+80%), Audi Q5 (+117%), Ford Fiesta (+63%), Mercedes GLC (+29%), Opel Mokka (+37%) and Dacia Sandero (+32%). The Seat Ateca leaps up 14 spots on December to a record #41, overtaking the Hyundai Tucson (#45) as the best-selling recent launch in Germany (<12 months). The Fiat Tipo at #57 (+16), Audi Q2 at #80 (+9), Toyota C-HR at #107 (-9) and Ford Edge at #112 (+10) follow. Further down, the Suzuki Ignis is up 28 spots on last month to #138, the Jaguar F-Pace also up 28 to #149 and the Kia Niro up 24 to #169. This month we welcome the Skoda Kodiaq at #227 with 66 sales.

First appearance of the Skoda Kodiaq in the German sales charts.