Germany January 2022: VW Golf back to #1 in market up 8.5%

After a few tumultuous months, the VW Golf is back to where it belongs: #1 at home.

The German new car market bounces back up 8.5% year-on-year in January to 184,112 registrations, but this is compared to a devastated January 2021 down -31.1% on the year prior. Fleet sales account for 64.9% of the market in January vs. 35.1% for private sales. Volkswagen (+7%) locates itself just below the market growth but sports a solid 19.9% share vs. 18.7% over the Full Year 2021. Mercedes (+4.6%) also trails the market but signs a strong 10.2% share vs. 8.6% in FY2021. Audi (+28.3%) displays fantastic growth and overtakes BMW (-10.1%) in difficulty to rank #3 overall. Skoda (+7.3%) is above Opel (+9.3%) whereas Ford (-22.6%) struggles. Hyundai (+55.7%) delivers the largest gain in the Top 10 but ranks #9 vs. #8 in December and FY2021. Further down, SSangyong (+520%), Dacia (+109.1%), Subaru (+104.5%), Mini (+92.5%), Honda (+90.6%), Mazda (+81.7%), Cupra (+71.4%), Mitsubishi (+58.9%), Kia (+40.6%) and Toyota (+40.5%) are among the most impressive. Chinese Lynk & Co makes a first appearance in the German charts directly at #34.

After three months of historical lows (#2 in October, #10 in November and #4 in December) impacted by factory closures, the VW Golf reclaims the pole position it has held annually for the past 41 straight years. The VW Tiguan (+1.5%) and T-Roc (+62.8%) complete a podium 100% Volkswagen for the first time since last October. The Opel Corsa (+22.4%) is the best of the rest at #4 above the Skoda Octavia (+12%) up three spots on December to #5. The Mini lineup (+92.5%) almost doubles its sales year-on-year to #6 while the Mercedes GLC (+36.6%) is very dynamic at #7 like in December but vs. #17 in FY2021. The VW Transporter (+26.3%), Audi A3 (+48.1%), Opel Mokka (+2581.8%) and Fiat 500 lineup (+70.4%) also impress below.

Previous post: Germany Full Year 2021: Market down -10.1% to lowest in 36 years, VW Golf leads above T-Roc despite late year debacle

One year ago: Germany January 2021: Opel, Renault resist in market down -31.1%

Full January 2022 Top 50 brands and Top 290 models below.