Germany 1996: Golf leads, Opel Corsa and VW Polo at their best

Opel Corsa

* See the Top 100 best-selling models by clicking on the title! Thanks Florian for the data *

A very good year for German car sales, up 5.5% to 3,496,709 registrations. The last 5 years’ dominating duo, the VW Golf and Opel Astra, are starting to show their age: the Golf is down 6% to 321,089 sales and 9.7% share, below the 10% mark for the first time since 1992. The Opel Astra drops under 200,000 yearly sales for the first time ever in a full year, down 10% to 198,384 registrations.

1996 is the year of the small car in Germany: the Opel Corsa threatens its big sister the Astra for the 2nd spot and finishes at a best-ever third place with 147,421 units and 4.5%, while the VW Polo also hits its best-ever position in Germany at #4 with 145,117 sales, up 22% on 1995 and here too its best annual volume ever.

VW Polo

Further down the ranking, the Audi A4 is up 13% and 2 spots to #5, ahead of two great performers: the Opel Vectra in 6th (+58%) and Mercedes E Class in 7th (+56%). No less than 5 more models sell more than 100,000 units this year in Germany, bringing the total to 12 models at that level, a new record!

New for this year, the Renault Megane lands directly in 15th place with 62,806 sales and is already the best-selling imported model! The Fiat Punto at #16 and the Renault Twingo at #19 follow. Notice the Fiat Bravo/Brava up to #22 at 37,599 units.

Full Top 100 Ranking Table below.