Germany April 2018: VW Transporter soars to highest-ever 2nd place

May 9, 2018
Matt Gasnier

After a stop sales on diesel variants, the VW Transporter is catching up on lost time.

* See the Top 50 best-selling brands and Top 325 models by clicking on the title *

New car sales in Germany are up a very robust 8% year-on-year in April to 314.055 registrations, lifting the YTD volume up 5% or 57.000 units to 1.192.666, its highest level at this stage of the year since 2000. Brand leader Volkswagen almost doubles its country’s growth rate with a very impressive 15% year-on-year uplift to 20.6% share, its highest in over two years: since the 20.9% hit back in February 2016. The Top 7 brands replicate the YTD order, with Mercedes (+8%), Audi (-1%), Ford up a cool 15% and BMW (+5%) rounding out the Top 5 and Opel (+3%) and Skoda (+12%) below. However it’s Seat (+37%) and Hyundai (+19%) that post the largest year-on-year upticks in the Top 10. Below, Rolls-Royce (+80%), Honda (+32%), Peugeot (+28%), Dacia (+26%), DS (+25%), Kia (+24%), Lada (+24%) and Smart (+23%) also perform strongly while Alpine is reborn at #48.

…its ancestor, the VW Kombi, ranked #3 in 1950.

Over in the models ranking, below the VW Golf in difficulty at -4%, the VW Transformer shoots up 97% on April 2018 and a staggering 29 spots on March to land directly in 2nd place with 7.365 sales, now ranking at #27 YTD vs. #22 over the FY2017. There is one explanation behind this madness: a delivery stop on all diesel Transporters affected an estimated 10.000 to 15.000 vehicles in January and February, waiting to be approved and delivered. As a result Transporter sales logically sank at the start of 2018: -66% in January (787), -79% in February (512) and -23% in March (3.052). April sales are a mere catchup on lost time that should extend to May and June figures. This performance isn’t due to high sales of campervan-ready models as we previously mentioned. Still, this is the highest ever monthly ranking by the legendary Kombi, as its ancestor, the first generation Bus peaked at #3 annually in 1950.

The Duster (+92%) helps Dacia up 26% in Germany in April.

The Tiguan (+18%) completes a podium 100% VW, cementing its 2nd place YTD (+11%) above the Passat, down to #5 in April but up 7% year-on-year. At #4, the Ford Focus (+53%) continues to evolve at its highest level in a decade, benefitting from generous discounts on the outgoing generation. The Skoda Kodiaq (+122%), Opel Insignia (+113%), Dacia Duster (+92%), BMW 5 Series (+74%), Seat Ibiza (+61%), Mercedes GLC (+60%), Ford Fiesta (+57%), Ford Kuga (+38%), Skoda Octavia (+34%), Hyundai i20 (+32%) and Hyundai i30 (+32%) register the largest gains in the remainder of the Top 50. The VW T-Roc betters its highest ranking by 9 spots to hit #23 this month, by far topping recent launches (<12 months) ahead of the Opel Crossland X at #51 (-8), the Seat Arona at #63 (+4), Skoda Karoq at #66 (-10) and Opel Grandland X at #71 (-19). Finally, we welcome the Jaguar i-Pace at #270, the Alpine A110 at #279 and the Ferrari Portofino at #315.

The new generation boosts Opel Insignia sales up 113% year-on-year.