Germany 1980: Mercedes W123 passes VW Golf!

Mercedes W123

* See ‘Read more’ for the Top 100 best-selling models! Thanks Florian for the data *

It’s an excellent year for Mercedes with the W123 interrupting the VW Golf reign after 5 years on top with 202,252 sales vs. 200,892 for the Golf. 1980 would be the last year any model other than the VW Golf tops the Germany ranking… The Opel Kadett, helped by the new generation launched in 1979, reaches its highest volume yet at 190,504 registrations in 3rd place.

Opel Kadett

VW Jetta

The Audi 80 drops one spot to #4 at 139,843 units, while the new VW Jetta delivers an outstanding first full year of sales in 5th place with 97,170 units sold. The Opel Rekord (-1 spot), Ford Fiesta (+1) and BMW 3 Series (+2) follow.

Honda Accord

Japanese models keep getting stronger, going from 1 model inside the Top 30 last year to no less than 5 from 5 different brands this year: the Honda Accord is at #23 with 24,306 sales (+34%), the Toyota Corolla at #25 with 22,148 units (+630%), the Datsun Cherry at #27, the Mazda 626 at #28 and the Mitsubishi Colt at #29.

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Full 1980 Top 100 Ranking Table below.