Germany February 2021: Market off -19%, Audi (-11%) up to highest ranking in almost two years

Audi A3 sales are up 39.7% year-on-year. Picture autobild.de

New car sales in Germany are off -19% year-on-year in February to 194.349 units as Covid-19 restrictions are extended. This brings the year-to-date tally down -25.1% to 364.103 sales. Brand leader Volkswagen (-9.7%) manages to slice the market decline in two to stand at 20.6% share, easily more than double any other carmaker in the country. Audi (-11%) also resists very well and is up two spots on January and its FY2020 ranking to #2 overall, its highest ranking at home in almost two years: since March 2019.

In fact all Top 6 brands are outpacing the market bar Mercedes (-28.3%) returning back to earth after particularly high year-ago levels. BMW (-6.3%) scores the best hold in the Top 15 while Opel (-11.3%) and Skoda (-18.3%) also hold ok. Ford (-49.1%), Seat (-31.7%) and Hyundai (-23.7%) are hit hard in the remainder of the Top 10. There are a few gainers in the Top 25: Tesla (+180%), Smart (+123%), Land Rover (+23.4%), Mini (+18.6%) and Porsche (+3.6%) while among smaller brands Polestar (+940%), Iveco (+23.2%), Ferrari (+21.8%), Lotus (+20%), Maserati (+10.5%) and Lamborghini (+5.3%) stand out.

Model-wise, the VW Golf (-31.7%) is still in freefall but climbs back up to 4.4% share vs. 3.8% last month. These remain historically low levels for the model at home. The VW Tiguan (+23.6%) is getting a boost potentially thanks to its facelift, relegating the VW Passat (-13.2%) to third place. The Skoda Octavia (+14.8%) is lifted to #4 by its new generation, scoring a 5th Top 5 finish in the past 8 months while the Opel Corsa (-0.9%) remains in 5th place. Below, the VW Up! (+72.3%), Audi A6 (+43.2%), A3 (+39.7%) and Mini lineup (+18.6%) all secure fantastic upticks. The Tesla Model 3 (+213.1%) is back up 77 ranks on January to #30 as the end of quarter looms. The VW ID.3 is down 5 spots to #31 but remains the most popular recent launch (<12 months) above the Cupra Formentor (#79). This month we welcome the Audi e-Tron GT at #153 and the Toyota Highlander at #199.

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

One year ago: Germany February 2020: Electrified vehicles (+92.8%), Seat (+23.4%) bright lights in market down -10.8%

Full February Top 50 All-brands and Top 297 All-models below.