Germany January 2015: Mercedes B-Class and Mini up

The Mercedes B-Class is still far above the BMW 2 Series Active Tourer for now.

* See the Top 50 brands and Top 271 models by clicking on the title *

New car sales start the year in positive in Germany at +3% in January to 211.337 registrations. Market leader Volkswagen is particularly strong: up 9% to 24.5% market share, a full 3 percentage points above its 2014 level. Mercedes outperforms the market at +6% to 9.5% share, Audi (+1%) overtakes BMW (+1%) vs. December and FY2014 to rank third while Opel (+9%) and Ford (-14%) remain 5th and 6th respectively. Renault is strong at +14%, Nissan surges up 60% to #9, Mini is up 30%, Smart up 32%, Mitsubishi up 108%, Jeep up 55%, Lexus up 102% and Tesla up 84%.

Like in December, both the VW Passat and Mercedes C-Class are on the podium.

Model-wise, below the ever-dominant VW Golf at 20,806 sales and 9.8% share including the Golf Sportsvan, the VW Passat is a strong 2nd thanks to the new generation and sales up 51% to 7,619 units and 3.6% share, and the Mercedes C-Class lodges a third consecutive month on the German podium with deliveries up 37% year-on-year to 5,255 and 2.5% share. The VW Polo (-16%), Audi A3 (-11%) and VW Tiguan (-15%) suffer but the VW Touran (+5%), Skoda Octavia (+3%), Opel Corsa (+60% thanks to the new model) and Mercedes B-Class (+17%) fare very well. Further down, the Mini (all versions) is up 30% year-on-year to #15, the Seat Leon is up 21% to #34 and outsells its competitor the Opel Astra (+11% to #22) for the 2nd time ever.

The Nissan Qashqai and Mazda CX-5 are 2 of 3 foreigners in the January Top 40.

The Nissan Qashqai, up a spectacular 80% on January 2014 to #25, is the only true foreigner in the Top 30 at #25 (counting Skoda and Seat as part of Volkswagen), and one of just 3 in the Top 40 along with the Fiat 500 at #31 and Mazda CX-5 at #40. Notice also the BMW 2 Series up a further two spots to a record #32 thanks to the Active Tourer variant, the Ford Mondeo up 59% to #38 thanks to the much anticipated new generation, the BMW 4 Series up 19 spots on December to #41, the Mitsubishi Space Star up 20 to #42 and the Mercedes GLA up 42 to #49.

The Citroen C4 Cactus is about to break into the German Top 100 – like the 2CV did in its time.

Among other recent launches, let’s salute the Mercedes V-Class up 4 spots on last month to a best-ever #54, the Smart Forfour down one to #67, the Nissan Pulsar up 29 to #75, Porsche Macan up 29 to #91, Citroen C4 Cactus up 26 to #101, and the BMW X4 and Peugeot 108 both up two ranks to #103 and #109 respectively.

Previous post: Germany Full Year 2014: Audi A3, VW Tiguan & Skoda Octavia at all-time high

Previous month: Germany December 2014: Mercedes C-Class up 80% to 2nd place

One year ago: Germany January 2014: Volkswagen monopolises Top 4 for first time in history

Full January 2015 Top 49 All-brands and Top 271 models below.