Germany April 2026: Mercedes CLA (+177.2%), BMW X3 (+106.9%) impress

34% of the BMW X3 sales are the iX3, part of it being the new model.

New car sales in Germany edge up 2.7% year-on-year in April to 249,163 units. This is to be compared with the 310,715 units of pre-pandemic April 2019. The year-to-date tally after four months is up 4.5% to 948,567. BEV sales surge 41.3% to 64,350 and 21.9% share vs. 18.8% a year ago in April 2025. Year-to-date BEV volumes are also up 41.3% to 223,980 and 23.6% share vs. 17.5% over the first four months of 2025.

Brand leader Volkswagen goes against its home market with a -6.7% year-on-year drop to 18.5% share, yet this is in line with the 18.7% it commands YTD. Mercedes (+4.9%) jumps two spots on March to #2 with 9.3% share but remains #3 year-to-date. BMW (-0.5%) stays at #3. Up to a record 2nd place each month this year so far, Skoda (+12.2%) drops to #4 but still soars year-on-year. Audi (+19%) does even better but is stuck in 5th place with 7.4% share, that’s almost two percentage points below competitor Mercedes. Opel (+6.6%) and Hyundai (+6.3%) are also solid in the remainder of the Top 10. BYD (+200.4%) triples its sales year-on-year to equal its ranking record at #17, also hit last December, and reach all time high volumes and share at 4,705 and 1.9%. Leapmotor (+331.5%), Smart (+260%), Tesla (+255.8%) and Xpeng (+187.4%) shine below.

Model-wise, the VW Golf (+7%) is the clear leader, widening the gap with the T-Roc (-12.8%) and Tiguan (-20.3%). The BMW X1 (+7%) is up two spots on last month to #4 with the Opel Corsa (+2.6%) rounding out the Top 5 like in March and YTD. The Skoda Octavia (+13.3%) follows ahead of a surging BMW X3 (+106.9%). 34% of the X3 volume this month comes from the iX3 BEV, part of it the 2026 model pictured above. This is the X3’s highest ranking since April 2020 (#5). The Mercedes GLC (+36.8%) and VW ID.3 (+17.7%) also impress, the latter up to #9 which is ist highest ranking since June 2023 (#3). The Mercedes CLA (+177.2%) and Audi A1 (+160.7%) lodge the biggest gains in the Top 30.

Previous month: Germany March 2026: VW Golf and Tesla Model Y top market up 16%

One year ago: Germany April 2025: BYD outsells Tesla

Full April 2026 Top 70 All brands and Top 371 All models below.