Germany Full Year 2013: VW Golf marks 38 years in pole position, Audi A3 and Skoda Octavia reach new heights

The Audi A3 Limousine and Mercedes CLA made waves in Germany in 2013.

* See the Top 315 best-selling models and Top 50 brands by clicking on the title! *

* Check out 1946-2013 Historical Data for Germany here (42 articles)! *

The German new car market is down 5% year-on-year in 2013 to 2,952,341 registrations, only the second time in the last 25 years (with 2010) it slips under 3 million annual units. Volkswagen evolves like the market at -5% to maintain its market share at 21.8% thanks to 642,190 sales, followed by the 3 German premium brands taking their distance with each other: Mercedes is #2 with 9.4% share (-2%) ahead of Audi at 8.5% (-5%) and BMW at 7.8% (-7%). After dramatically dropping over the past couple of years, Opel (-3%) and Ford (-4%) stabilise this year at #5 and #6 respectively while Skoda is up 9% at #7. Hyundai become the best-selling importer in the country with sales up 1% to 101,522 at #8, passing Renault down 7% to #9 and 98,922 units. Seat is up a splendid 22% and 3 spots year-on-year to round up the Top 10.

The VW Golf has now been #1 in Germany for 38 of the last 40 years.

Unsurprisingly, the VW Golf is the most popular vehicle in Germany this year thanks to sales up 1% to 244,249 and 8.3% share, even reaching 10% in December for the first time in 4 years. It is the 33rd consecutive year that the Golf is #1 in Germany, (no interruption since 1981!) with the nameplate holding the #1 spot at home for 38 of the 40 years since it launched in 1974: the only times it didn’t reach #1 was for its firest year of sales (incomplete) and in 1980 when the Mercedes W123 took the lead. The Golf even reinforces its domination this year, selling 3.4 times the amount of the next best-seller (the VW Passat) vs. 2.7 times in 2012.

The BMW 3 Series climbs onto the year-end podium for the first time since 2007.

For the first time since 2007, the BMW 3 Series is on the German year-end podium with sales up 11% to 69,486 thanks to the new model, passing the VW Polo (-11%). In 5th place we have one of the two superstars of the year in Germany: the Audi A3. With the new generation launched late last year and the “Limousine” sedan version spreading into dealerships during the second half of 2013, the A3 is up a fantastic 33% and 13 spots on 2012 to 60,978 sales and 2.1% share. This is the A3’s best-ever year-end ranking since the nameplate launched in 1996, beating the #8 it reached in 2006 and 2010. It notably ranks #2 in its category and above the Opel Astra (#9) for the very first time and ranked inside the monthly podium for the very first time in the nameplate’s 17 year-career in August (#2) and October (#3)…

The Skoda Octavia lifted its German monthly ranking record to #5 this year.

The VW Tiguan, up 4% and 5 ranks to #6 at 57,838 units and 2%, also hits its best-ever annual scores this year, and is particularly successful with private buyers (#3). The other 2013 superstar is the Skoda Octavia, up 7% and 6 spots to #11 with 49,495 sales and 1.7% and missing out on a very first year-end Top 10 ranking by just 100 sales! The Octavia already reached its best-ever annual ranking in 2011 and 2012 (#17) so this is pushing it in a totally different class. The Octavia ranked inside the monthly Top 10 five times this year: March (#9), September (#5), October (#7), November (#8) and December (#5), whereas it had only done in once in the last 17 years before 2013, in September 2012 (#9)! I told you, new heights…

Opel Adam

Further down, the Mercedes E-Class is up 7 spots to #12 thanks to its facelift, the A-Class up 53% and 12 ranks to #13 and 49,034 sales, the Seat Leon/Altea/Toledo is up 63% to hit a record #31 and 31,027 units, the Hyundai i30 is back to the #1 ‘true’ foreign model spot at #27 with 30,569 sales and 1% share ahead of the Fiat 500 up 45% to #29 (including the 500L) and the Nissan Qashqai down 8% to #31. The Opel Adam is the best-performing all-new model at #37 and 21,122 units, followed by the Mercedes CLA at #74 and 10,373 sales, the Renault Captur at #95 and 7,374 units and the Peugeot 2008 at #102 and 6,736 sales. Notice also the BMW 4 Series at #178, BMW i3 at #231, Mercedes GLA-Class at #267 and BMW 2 Series at #269.

Private Sales post: Germany Private Sales Full Year 2013: Mercedes A-Class up 67%

Previous post: Germany December 2013: VW Up inside Top 10 for the first time

Previous year: Germany Full Year 2012: Mercedes B-Class and VW Tiguan break records

Two years ago: Germany Full Year 2011: VW Golf, Passat and Polo on podium

Full Year 2013 Top 315 models and Top 50 brands Ranking Tables below.