Germany September 2014: New Renault Twingo strikes a chord

Renault Twingo and first generation VW Beetle

* See the Top 311 best-selling models and Top 50 brands by clicking on the title! *

New car sales in Germany are up an encouraging 5% year-on-year in September to 260.062 registrations, bringing the year-to-date total to 2.281.671 units, up 3% on 2013. Brand-wise, Volkswagen outperforms the market with sales up 9% on September 2013 to 54,939 units for a 21.1% market share, ahead of Mercedes (-1%), Audi (+10%) and BMW (+2%). Mass brands Opel and Ford (both at +3%) continue to lose market share and are threatened by Skoda up to 6.2% share this month. Hyundai impresses just under 4% share thanks to 10.228 sales, Renault is up 12%, Seat up 19%, Mazda up 29%, Mitsubishi up 36%, Jeep up 50% and Maserati up 265%.

The Sportsvan lifts the VW Golf nameplate to its best market share in 5 years.

Boosted by strong sales of the Sportsvan variant (separate data isn’t available), the VW Golf jumps above 10% share for the second time in the past 10 months at 10.6% and 27,575 units, up a gigantic 37% year-on-year. This is the Golf nameplate’s strongest market share at home in almost 5 years: since November 2009 when it hit 11.6%. The Audi A3 also does exceptionally well: up 3 spots on August and 24% year-on-year to land in 2nd place with 6,382 sales, dislodging the VW Passat while the Opel Corsa remains at a better-than-usual 4th spot thank to cut-throat prices on the outgoing generation. The VW Polo (+40%), Mercedes C-Class (+19%) and BMW 1 Series (+22%) follow and all shine.

Seat Leon

Yet another outstanding month for the Seat Leon up 40% year-on-year to #14 with 3,676 sales even though it is back below the Opel Astra (#11). This is the Leon’s 2nd best ranking ever in Germany below the #13 it reached last May. The Mini, helped by the third generation now widely available, is up 5 ranks on last month and 19% year-on-year to #17, the Fiat 500 is up 3 spots to #23 and Renault can finally report excellent news in Germany with the thunderous arrival of the Renault Twingo, lifted by the new model, inside the Top 25 at #25 and 2,623 sales, up 176% year-on-year. The local press even linked it with the first generation VW Beetle as they both sport their engine in the boot. That will definitely not hurt sales of the mini Renault nameplate which has been struggling in Germany since its original launch over 20 years ago.

The Active Tourer boosts the BMW 2 Series up to #59.

Further down, let’s salute Hyundai placing no less than 3 models inside the Top 35: the i30 at #28, i10 at #31 and ix35 at #35, the Opel Mokka up 63% to #29, Mazda CX-5 up 12 ranks on August to #37, the Skoda Rapid up 9 to an all-time high #38 (also hit last December), the Ford Mondeo up 34 to #54, the BMW 2 Series breaking its ranking record at home for the third straight month at #59 with 1,300 units thanks to the arrival of the Active Tourer (separate data not available), the Porsche Macan still the brand’s best-seller at home at #110, BMW X4 up 19 spots to #111 and the Ford Ecosport up 17 to #125.

First appearance of the Mercedes AMG GT in the German rankings.

Finally, in September we welcome an unusually high number of newcomers in the models ranking: five. They are led by the Ford Transit Courier landing directly at #155 with 235 sales, ahead of the Nissan Pulsar at #160 and 220 units. The Lexus NX300h instantly becomes the brand’s best-seller in Germany thanks to 57 units sold at #227, the Mercedes AMG GT arrives at #255 (25 sales) and at the complete opposite end of the price scale the Suzuki Celerio ranks 264th with 19 units sold.

Previous month: Germany August 2014: Hyundai i10 best-selling ‘true’ foreigner

One year ago: Germany September 2013: Skoda Octavia up to all-time high #5

Full September 2014 Top 311 models Ranking Table below.