Germany April 2014: VW Tiguan reaches record #2, also #2 ytd

VW Tiguan

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It’s not quite full-on recovery territory for Germany yet with sales down 4% year-on-year in April to 274,097 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 985,850 units, up 3% on 2013. Below the VW Golf reigning supreme at 8% share, the VW Tiguan is up one spot on last month to a best-ever #2 ranking thanks to 6,869 sales and 2.5%. After jumping on the monthly German podium for the very first time in February and repeating that feat in March, it’s the first time the Tiguan has only the Golf above it in the German sales charts. It gets even more historical: this performance enables the Tiguan to rank #2 year-to-date as well with 23,292 units vs. 22,749 for the VW Passat and 22,464 for the VW Polo. It also means Volkswagen monopolises the Top 4 best-sellers year-to-date, and the VW Group monopolises the Top 5 with the Audi A3 at #5.

Audi A3 Limousine

Talking about the Audi A3, it is up 4 ranks on March to land on the third step of the podium this month with 6,834 sales and 2.5% share. This is only the second time since its original launch in 1996 that the A3 ranks on the German podium with August 2013 when it ranked #2. The recently relaunched Mercedes C-Class maintains itself inside the Top 5 at #5 with 5,542 units and 2% while below the VW Polo at #6 the VW Touran makes it 5 Volkswagens in the Top 7 and 6 VAG Group models in the Top 7. The Skoda Octavia remains in the Top 10 at #10 thanks to sales up 29% year-on-year.

The BMW 4 Series breaks into the German Top 50 for the first time in April.

Further down, the Fiat Ducato is boosted by camper van sales, up 15 spots on March to reach #16 vs. #34 year-to-date and #51 over the Full Year 2013, the Seat Leon remains very solid at #22 (and #3 foreigner), the Renault Clio is up 9 ranks on last month to #27 and the Opel Insignia up 78% year-on-year to #30. Two recent German premium launches break into the Top 50 at the same time: the BMW 4 Series is up 8 spots to #46 with 1,846 sales and the Mercedes GLA is up 15 to #48 at 1,737 units.

First appearance in the German sales charts for the BMW i8

The Peugeot 308 is up 32 spots to #73, the Renault Captur up 4 to #74 and the Peugeot 2008 up 13 to #78 while the Suzuki SX4 is up 24 to #80. As it has been the case in most countries I have covered April sales for so far, the Porsche Macan is an instant success for the brand: up 151 ranks on March to already break into the Top 100 at #98 with 712 sales, only 75 units short off becoming Porsche’s best-seller (the 911 is #90) as soon as its first full month of sales in the country. Finally let’s welcome the BMW i8 in the ranking at #286 with 7 sales.

The Porsche Macan breaks into the German Top 100 for its first full month of sales.

Brand-wise, below Volkswagen at 22.1% share, Audi passes Mercedes to rank #2 with 25,796 sales vs. 25,717, both brands grabbing a 9.4% market share. BMW is down 3% year-on-year at #4 as is Opel at #5 while Ford is down 1% to #6. Excellent hold of Skoda up 12% in 7th place with 14,337 sales, followed by Renault up 5% to 10,027 units. Other gainers among the Top 20 most popular carmakers include Fiat up 2% at #10, Kia up 3% at #13, Nissan up 20% to #15, Mazda up a wonderful 35% on April 2013 (mainly due to the CX-5 doubling its sales year-on-year) and Porsche up 22% to #18 thanks to the arrival of the Macan. Chevrolet is down 86% and Maserati up 194%.

Previous month: Germany March 2014: Mercedes C-Class up 31% to #4

One year ago: Germany April 2013: Audi A3 and Mercedes E-Class up

Full April 2014 Top 300 models and Top 50 brands Ranking Tables below.