Germany August 2021: VW Up, Fiat 500, Tesla Model 3 break records in market off -23%

The Fiat 500 lineup is up to a record 6th place in Germany in August.

New car sales in Germany crater -23% year-on-year in August to just 193.307 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up a tiny 2.5% to 1.820.589. August 2021 volumes are also down -38.4% on August 2019 and off -27% year-to-date vs. the same period in 2019. With the microchip crisis not going anywhere in the near future, we at BSCB forecast a Full Year 2021 volume in negative at -2% to 2.85 million units. Brand leader Volkswagen (-17.4%) resists a little better than the market but sees its share fall to 18.7% vs. 19.9% so far this year. Both BMW (-25.1%) and Audi (-12.4%) take advantage of dire stock shortages at Mercedes (-50%) to climb to 2nd and 3rd place respectively. At #5, Opel (+7.9%) is once again the only year-on-year gainer in the Top 10 but it is coming from paltry year-ago scores. Toyota (-0.8%) and Hyundai (-8.1%) resist strongly in the remainder of the Top 10 whereas Ford (-45.8%), Skoda (-38.7%) and Renault (-33.2%) all fall apart. Below, Tesla (+33.9%) hits a record #14 with Mazda (+19.3%) and Suzuki (+37.2%) also up in the Top 20. Cupra celebrates one year in market and climbs to #23 with 1.1% share.

Over in the models ranking, the VW Golf (-39%) continues to freefall but remains the best-seller at home, while the VW T-Roc (-17.6%) performs better and repeats at a record 2nd place. First podium finish since March 2020 for the BMW 3 Series (+6.1%) while Volkswagen monopolises the rest of the Top 5 with the Up (+119%) up to a record #4 as 64% of its volume comes from the BEV variant, and the ID.3 (+866.5%) scoring its second ever Top 5 finish at home at #5 (highest is #3 last December). The Fiat 500 lineup (+53.9%) is up six spots on July to break its ranking record at #6 (previous best was #7 in September 2019 and 2020) with 39% of its volume held by the BEV variant. Fiat places a second model in the Top 7: the Ducato (-32.5%) up one rank on last month to #7. The Tesla Model 3 (+4.3%) is up 114 spots on July to also break its ranking record at #8 (previous best #9 last June) while the Seat Leon is up 17 ranks to #10 and the Hyundai Kona (-13.6%) is up 11 to #11. The Cupra Formentor is up 26 spots to hit a new record #23 (previous best #36 last June and the Tesla Model Y lands directly at #75.

Previous month: Germany July 2021: Opel (+16%) only gainer in Top 25, VW T-Roc at record #2 as market skids -24.9%

One year ago: Germany August 2020: BMW (+15.2%) stands out, Mercedes GLC hits record #4, market halted -20%

Full August 2021 Top 50 All-brands and Top 305 All-models below.