Germany April 2012: BMW 3 Series at highest in 4 years UPDATED

BMW 3 Series

* NOW UPDATED AGAIN with the Top 308 best-selling models! Click on title to see *

Car sales in Germany are up a solid 3% year-on-year in April at 274,066 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 1,047,702 units, up 2% on 2011. No surprise in pole position: the VW Golf dominates as usual with 22,457 sales and 8.2% share, however there is a nice surprise for BMW in 2nd place: boosted by the new generation launched late last year and now widespread in dealerships around the country, the Series 3 sells 7,907 units for an excellent 2.9% share, its first time at #2 since December 2008! It is also the first time since June 2011 that Volkswagen doesn’t place a model in both #1 and #2 in Germany.

2012 Audi A3

The 3 Series’ formidable month means the Passat and Polo are kicked down to #3 and #4 respectively, while the Opel Astra and Mercedes C-Class resist at #5 and #6. Very strong month for the Audi A3 up 14 spots on March to #7, its highest ranking since December 2010, and for the Audi A6/A7 back up inside the Top 10 for the third time this year at #8. At #9, the VW Tiguan maintains itself in the Top 10 for the 4th consecutive month whereas it had only managed to break into it twice before in the nameplate’s 4 years life – in January and February 2011!

Audi Q3

Robust showings for the Mercedes B-Class up to #12, the VW Up! equalling its best-ever ranking at #22, the Audi Q3 reaching a best-ever #35 and the Fiat Panda up 23 spots on March thanks to the new generation. It’s a very chauvinistic month for German car sales: if we consider Skoda and Seat ‘German’ (I know this is controversial, but bear with me), there is only 4 ‘true’ foreign models in the Top 40: the Fiat Ducato at a very unusual #28, the Hyundai i30 at #31, the Renault Twingo at #36 and Megane at #39…

Infiniti FX

Further down, notice the Peugeot 208 up 79 spots to #68, the Mazda CX-5 up 28 to #77, the VW Beetle up 30 to #122, the Seat Mii up 129 ranks to #148 and the Infiniti FX up 62 to #163.

Previous month: Germany March 2012: Polo above 10,000 units, BMW 1 Series #5

One year ago: Germany April 2011: VW Golf stronger

Full April 2012 Top 308 Ranking Table below.