Germany Full Year 2020: Sales down -19.1% to weakest in a decade, VW Golf drops -33.4%, VW ID.3 #3 in December

The VW Golf is down to 4.7% share, its lowest ever in a Full Year at home.

Discover 75 years worth of German Historical data here.

The German new car market is hit -19.1% by the coronavirus crisis in 2020  to 2.917.678 registrations, that’s a loss of almost 700.000 sales compared to the 3.607.958 units of 2019. This is the weakest annual result in Germany since the 2.916.260 units of 2010. This year, private sales resist better than the market at -12.8% to 1.085.376 but still only account for 37.2% of the total market vs. 35.5% in 2019 and 36.4% in 2018. Fleet sales are down -22.4% to 1.832.302 and 62.8% share vs. 64.5% in 2019 and 63.6% in 2018.

The VW ID.3 ranks #3 overall in December…

Volkswagen (-21.3%) loses a little more volume than the market, resulting in a reduced 18% share vs. 18.5% a year ago whereas Mercedes (-10.6%) improves from 9.4% to 10.4% share and BMW (-13.7%) from 7.7% to 8.3%. Audi (-19.9%) takes advantage of Ford’s freefall (-30.6%) to climb to #4 despite losing more ground than the market. Skoda (-13%) historically overtakes Opel (-32.3%) to advance to a record 6th place in Germany. This is the first time in German history that Skoda outsells Opel. Renault (-4.4%) resists best in the Top 10 thanks to the success of the Zoe as we’ll see below, and both Seat (-17.4%) and Hyundai (-18.9%) just outpace the market in the remainder of the Top 10. Further down, Tesla (+55.9%), Ferrari (+23.9%), Morgan (+15.6%), Lotus (+14%), Lamborghini (+8.6%), Iveco (+0.3%) and Fiat (+0.2%) post the only gains in market.

…while the Renault Zoe was up to a record 6th place.

In a December lifted 9.9% year-on-year by rushed sales of green cars to meet 2020 CO2 targets, the VW ID.3 surges 34 spots on November to land at  #3 overall with over 7.000 sales, 73.5% being fleet sales. The Renault Zoe (+585.8%) soars to a record #6 with over 5.300 sales and just 49.7% fleet after ranking #7 in October and #12 in November. The Tesla Model 3 (+255.6%) is up 35 spots on last month to #25, the VW ID.4 is up 219 ranks on November to #40 with over 2.300 sales (100% fleet) and the Ford Mustang Mach E appears at #199.

The Fiat Ducato is up to #10 over the Full Year 2020.

Over the Full Year, the VW Golf (-33.4%) celebrates a 40th consecutive annual win and a 45th win in the past 46 years every year since 1975 apart from 1980 by the Mercedes W123) to be compared with “only” 29 wins for the VW Beetle (from 1946 to 1973). However it endures a 5th straight year-on-year drop, losing over one-third of its 2019 volume and resulting in a market share sinking one percentage point from 5.7% to 4.7%. For the second year in a row, the Golf hits its lowest ever share in a Full Year, only holding a weaker share during its launch year in 1974 at 4.3%. For now the new ID.3 has remained well below the Golf even in December, ending the year at #100 but the launch of more accessible variants in 2021 could change this. For the 6th time in the past 7 years, the German podium is 100% Volkswagen with the Passat (+2.7%) climbing 3 spots to #2 and toppling the VW Tiguan (-31.2%), down one to #3. The Ford Focus (-8.4%), Skoda Octavia (-3.5%) and Opel Corsa (+2.9%) all advance 3 ranks to #4, #5 and #6 respectively while the BMW 3 Series (+9.1%) is up 9 to #8 and the Fiat Ducato (+44%) benefits from plane travel restrictions and shoots up 23 spots to #10 overall.

Previous month: Germany November 2020: Sales resist at -3%, Renault (+29.2%), Opel (+17.1%) shine

Previous year: Germany 2019: Golf down to lowest ever share, VW places 5 nameplates in Top 6 in strongest market since 2009 (+5%)

Two years ago: Germany 2018: Volkswagen monopolises Top 4 for the first time despite WLTP bruises

Full December 2020 Top 50 All-brands and Top 312 All-models below.

Full Year 2020 Top 50 All-brands and Top 365 All-models vs. Full Year 2019 figures below.