Germany February 2024: VW Golf (+32.6%), Passat (+54.9%), Opel Astra (+214.2%) shine in soft market

VW Passat sales are up 54.9% in February. Picture Martin Meiners.

German new car sales edge up 5.4% year-on-year in February to 217,388 units. That’s the smallest lift among the Top 5 European markets. Year-to-date volumes are up 11.8% to 430,941. Note BEV sales drop -15.4% year-on-year to 27,479 and 12.6% share vs. 15.6% a year ago. This has a lot to do with Tesla falling -21.7% this month. Volkswagen (+2.1%) is weaker than its home market but still sells double the #2, Mercedes (-7.4%), in difficulty. BMW (+8.1%) is solid and swaps spots with Skoda (+15.3%). The latter remains #3 year-to-date. Audi (-21.9%) dives at #5 whereas Opel (+20.1%) shows great strength again below. Seat (+54.7%) scores the largest gain in the Top 10 with Toyota (+14%) also beating the market. Ford (-13.8%) and Hyundai (+1.2%) are not so lucky. Further down, Volvo (+83.5%), Porsche (+66.5%), Mitsubishi (+263.4%), MG (+49.3%) and Smart (+42.4%) all impress.

As for the models charts, the VW Golf (+32.6%) confirms its return to good fortune and repeats at 4.7% share, which was its highest since August 2020 when hit last month. The Tesla Model Y surges 18 spots on January to land at #2, a ranking it also held a year ago in February 2023. However this month it is down -16.1% year-on-year which could signal a plateauing of its sales. VW places three models below: the Tiguan (+10.8%), T-Roc (-11.4%) and Passat (+54.9%). The Skoda Octavia (-10.7%) drops to #6 but ranks #4 year-to-date. It’s another outstanding result for the Opel Astra (+214.2%) ranking #7 for the month and YTD. The Seat Leon (+181.5%) also surges, to #9 however keep in mind its volume includes the Cupra model, the two not being separated in the official stats.

Previous month: Germany January 2024: Skoda scores first ever podium finish, Dacia #10, Opel Astra #5

One year ago: Germany February 2023: VW Golf and Tesla Model dominate in another disappointing month (+2.8%)

Full February 2024 Top 60 All brands and Top 335 All models below.