Germany September 2019: Hyundai breaks share record, Fiat 500 family up to #7 in market up 22.2%

The Fiat 500 lineup smashes its German ranking record from #16 to #7.

Now with the Top 50 Private Sales models and commentary.

The German new car market bounces back up 22.2% year-on-year in September to 244.622 on weak post-WLTP year-ago volumes, doing better than all other major European markets such as Spain (+20.7%), France (+16.6%), Italy (+12.9%) and the UK (+1.3%). As a result the YTD tally is now up 2.5% to 2.740.158, the largest 9-month volume in Germany this decade. Most of this month’s brands improvements are proportional to how much they had abused the pre-WLTP game and were hungover a year ago. As such the VW Group (+85.7%) posts the largest gains but yet only manages a weak 30.5% share this month vs. 38% in August and 36.8% YTD. Porsche is up 431.%, Audi is up 148% to 4.7% vs. 7.8% so far this year, Volkswagen is up 96% to 16.2% vs. 18.2%, Seat up 78.5% to 2.8% vs. 4% and Skoda up 27.5% to 5.7%, in line with the 5.9% it commands YTD as Lamborghini (+1025%) and Bentley (+207.7%) also take off. Renault (+50.6%) and Dacia (+31.7%) also mechanically get up but fare a lot worse than YTD.

The Hyundai i30 hits its highest German ranking in almost 4 years.

In fact Mercedes (+20%) turns out to be one of the best performers this month even though it slightly trails the market growth, hitting 11% share, its highest so far this year and since last November (11.2%). BMW (-18.9%), Ford (+25.6%) and Opel (-9.1%) follow above Skoda (+27.5%), returning the Top 6 to a more familiar composition. Hyundai (+36%) surges to 7th place, equally its record set exactly a year ago in September 2018 and breaking its all-time market share record at 4.8%, eclipsing its previous best of 4.7% from September 2015. Fiat (+26.8%) manages to slide inside the Top 10 for the first time since September 2018. Below, only Tesla (+807%), Alpine (+150%), Honda (+118%), Ssangyong (+77%), Ferrari (+36.8%), Lexus (+28.7%) and Smart (+24.3%) manage to outpace the market.

The Ford Focus is on the German podium for the 3rd time in 15 years.

Model-wise, the VW Golf (+117.3%) easily tops the charts above the VW Tiguan (+438.3%) in the same order as YTD while the Ford Focus (+308.1%) is up 9 spots on August to sign its second podium finish of the year after last March and only the third time in the past 15 years (since September 2004) alongside March 2018 (#3). The Opel Corsa (-7.5%) is up to #4, the Mercedes C-Class (+3.6%) up to #5 and the Mini lineup (+14.9%) hits its highest so far this year at #6. For its part the Fiat 500 lineup (+55.5%) breaks into the German Top 10 for the first time and smashes its ranking record from #16 in September 2018 to #7 this month. The Mercedes A-Class (+47.8%) also shines in the Top 10, up 13 ranks on last month to #9. Notice also the Mercedes GLC (+13.3%) hitting its highest ranking in a year at #12, the Hyundai i30 (+83%) at its highest in almost 4 years at #23 (#20 in November 2015), the Toyota Corolla (#33) back inside the Top 50 for the first time for this generation, the Tesla Model 3 up 113 spots to #53 and the Skoda Kamiq breaking into the Top 100 at #98. Reversely the VW T-Roc is down 12 spots on August to #15, the Polo down 15 to #20, the Audi A4 down 20 to #27, the Seat Leon down 44 to #48, the VW T-Cross also down 44 to #58 and the Dacia Duster down 51 to #61.

The Mini lineup is up to #2 with German private buyers in September.

In the Private Sales ranking, after being tipped over by the VW T-Roc last month, the VW Golf (+123.6%) reclaims the top spot but isn’t exactly sparkling at 28.5% Private Sales ratio (PS) vs. 29.3% YTD. The Mini lineup (+18.1%) soars to #2 overall despite lodging a weak 51.6% PS. The Mercedes A-Class (+56.2%), Ford Focus (+775.9%) and Mercedes C-Class (+3.3%) round out the Top 5 ahead of the Mitsubishi Space Star (-27.9%) and VW Tiguan (+445.4%). The Mercedes B-Class (+70.8%) and Ford Kuga (+17%) also shine in the Top 10, while among new launches the Tesla Model 3 climbs to #17 and the VW T-Cross falls 13 spots on last month to #20.

Previous month: Germany August 2019: Skoda, Seat, Dacia break records, Duster in Top 10, VW T-Roc leads private sales

One year ago: Germany September 2018: Post-WLTP hangover has BMW #1 and VW #4

Full September 2019 Top 50 brands, Top 310 All-models and Top 50 Private Sales models below.