Germany January 2021: Opel (-16.8%), Renault (-17.4%) resist in market off -31.1%

The new Opel Mokka has landed in Germany.

Lockdown measures and associated dealership closures aimed at stemming the winter wave of Covid-19 pull the German market down a harsh -31.1% to 169.754 units vs. 246.300 a year ago which was already down -7.3% on the year prior. Brand leader Volkswagen (-29.9%) resists slightly better than the market, resulting in an improved share at 20.1% vs. 18% over the FY2020. In fact the Top 5 brands remain unchanged on December, with Mercedes (-31.2%) in 2nd place followed by BMW (-19.4%), Audi (-47.4%) in difficulty and Skoda (-20.4%) remaining at a record 5th place. The best hold of the Top 10 is delivered by Opel (-16.8%) starting to recover volume-wise after a couple of difficult years. Renault (-17.4%) also frankly outpaces the market at #8. There are only 7 year-on-year gainers further down the charts: Volvo (+9.4%), Smart (+1597.2%) on a particularly low January 2020 and Tesla (+23.4%) in the Top 30, Maserati (+3.3%), Man (+60.7%) and Aston Martin (+42.9%) beyond. Porsche (-3.9%) and Ferrari (-6.8%) also resist well with single-digit losses.

Over in the models ranking, the VW Golf (-47.5%) implodes and falls down to what is believed to be its second lowest ever share at 3.8% vs. 4.7% over the FY2020 and 3.6% last November. The VW Passat (-19.5%) is solid in 2nd place while the VW Tiguan (-32.8%) rallies back up 9 spots on December to return to the third place it held over the FY2020. The Mercedes C-Class (-1.9%) is up 15 spots to #4, the Opel Corsa (+3.6%) overtakes the Skoda Octavia (-2.6%) to remain at #5 with the Ford Kuga (+116.5%), VW Up! (+40.1%) and Opel Astra (+7%) posting market-defying lifts. Up to #3 in December, the VW ID.3 falls back 23 spots to a more realistic 26th place, still the best-selling recent launch in Germany above the Cupra Formentor breaking into the Top 50 for the first time at #49.

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

One year ago: Germany January 2020: Porsche, Mitsubishi, Seat deft market down -7.3%

Full January 2021 Top 50 All-brands and Top 290 All-models below.