Germany July 2019: Diesel (+7%), fleet sales (+5.9%), Mercedes (+22.4%) and BMW (+32.2%) lift market up 4.7%

The Focus (+146.4%) helps Ford up 26.8% in July.

12/08/2019 update: Now with the Top 50 private sales models.

Great result for German new car sales in July, up 4.7% year-on-year to 332.788 units even though July 2018 volumes were artificially boosted by pre-WLTP stock clearances. When comparing with July 2017, the lift is an even more impressive 17.6%. Year-to-date, German sales are now up 1.2% to 2.181.788, the highest level at this stage of the year since 2000. Once again going against the European trend, diesel sales shoot up 7% year-on-year to 109.945 or 33% share vs. 32.3% a year ago and 32.9% YTD. In contrast, gasoline sales drop -1.8% to 193.683 and 58.2% share vs. 62% a year ago and 59.2% YTD. Fleet sales soar 5.9% year-on-year in July to 211.986 or 63.7% share vs. 63% a year ago, and up 3.6% YTD to 1.391.981 or 63.8% vs. 62.3% in 2018. Private sales are also up at +2.7% to 120.802 and 36.3% share vs. 37% a year ago but remain in negative so far this year at -2.9% to 789.807 units and 36.2% share vs. 37.7% over the same period in 2018.

In July, BMW sales are up 32% and Mercedes up 22.4%.

One of the main culprits of artificial pre-WLTP self-registrations, the VW Group pages the price this month with sales down -4.3% to 39.1% share vs. 42.8% in July 2018, but this is still a strong showing compared to the 37.3% it commands year-to-date (-2.7%). Volkswagen (-6.9%) holds 18.6% of its home market vs. 20.9% in July 2018 and Audi (-14%) is at 8.7% in third place vs. 10.6% a year ago. Mercedes (+22.4%) surges 3 spots on June to return to the #2 spot it holds YTD. Strikingly, the 6 next best-selling carmakers all post spectacular double-digit gains, with BMW (+32.2%), Ford (+26.8%), Hyundai (+23.4%) and Opel (+23.2%) the most dynamic. Below Skoda (+13.2%) at #7, Seat (+13.3%) posts its 2nd highest ever share at 4.8%, only bettered by a pre-WLTP boosted 5.4% in August 2018. Further down, Tesla (+538.9%), Rolls Royce (+100%), Land Rover (+43.7%), Lexus (+38.9%), Mini (+18.1%), Lamborghini (+16.9%), Honda (+14.6%), Jaguar (+14.4%), Mazda (+10.9%) and Peugeot (+10.3%) are among the best performers. In contrast, Subaru (-36.1%), DS (-33.2%), Renault (-27.3%)  and Alfa Romeo (-27%) are the worst performers in the Top 40, penalised for an artificially-boosted sales comparison set a year ago.

The Opel Zafira Life has landed in Germany.

In the models ranking, the VW Golf (-17%) falls heavily but remains on top at 4.9% share vs. 5.6% year-to-date. The VW Tiguan (+17.1%) goes in almost exactly in the opposite direction and hits a new market share record at home to 2.9%, beating its previous best of 2.8% reached in January 2017 and 2018. The VW Passat (-22.2%), also in freefall, ensures the podium remains 100% Volkswagen. The Mercedes C-Class (+38.3%) soars up 6 spots on last month to #4, displacing the VW Polo (-35.8%) to earn the YTD #3 spot. The VW T-Roc (+28.4%) scores a third ever Top 5 finish after August 2018 and June 2019. The Ford Focus (+146.4%) and Opel Corsa (+82.1%) deliver the largest year-on-year gains in the Top 10 and 20, with the Mercedes B-Class (+94.5%), Audi Q3 (+51.5%), Skoda Kodiaq (+53.8%), Karoq (+45.4%), BMW 3 Series (+41.7%), X1 (+31.9%), Seat Ateca (+21.9%), Mercedes A-Class (+19.2%), Skoda Fabia (+16.4%) and Ford Kuga (+15.2%) also standing out further down. The VW T-Cross is up 6 spots on last month to continue dominating new launches at #31, well above the Seat Tarraco at #71, the Citroen C5 Aircross at #105 and the Skoda Scala at #111. We welcome the Opel Zafira Life in the German charts this month at #249.

The Skoda Karoq ranks #10 with German private buyers in July.

In the private sales ranking, the VW Golf (25.7% private sales ratio) is just 1.100 units above the VW Tiguan (32.5%) due to a devastating -39.5% year-on-year freefall, with the T-Roc (52.2%) rounding out the podium like YTD. The Mini lineup (55.8%) is up 50.2% year-on-year to #4 above the Dacia Sandero (84.7%), Fiat Ducato (79.6%) and Dacia Duster (79.5%), while the Ford Kuga (53.9%) up 35.2%, Mercedes B-Class (62.5%) up 115.1% and Skoda Karoq (60.9%) up 31.4% all step into the Top 10, the latter remaining by far the brand’s best-seller with German private buyers. Below, notice the VW T-Cross up to #13 vs. #56 so far in 2019, the Ford Focus up 235.5% to #14, the Seat Ateca up 49.1% to #19, the Audi Q3 up 94.3% to #25, the Toyota Corolla up to #27 vs. #68, the Kia Cee’d up 253.8% to #32, Mercedes GLA up 194.9% to #33, Nissan Qashqai up 102.1% to #46 and Hyundai i20 up 115.3% to #48.

Previous post: Germany First Half 2019: Diesel (+3%), BMW (+7.4%), Ford (+5,7%) pull market up 0.5% to best result since 2000

Previous month: Germany June 2019: VW T-Roc hits record #4, Ford Focus up 42.9% in market down -4.7%

One year ago: Germany July 2018: VW Group places 9 models in Top 9 for the first time, Audi, Seat hit record shares, Skoda above Opel for the first time

Full July 2019 Top 50 All-brands, Top 320 All-models and Top 50 private sales models below.