Germany August 2026: BEVs up 75.1%, Mercedes GLC storms onto podium

First podium finish at home for the Mercedes GLC.

The German new car market is up 2.6% year-on-year in August to 212,563 units, leading to a year-to-date tally up 4.8% to 1,965,024. As a reminder we are -32% below the pre-pandemic August 2019 volume (313,748) and -21% below the 8 months 2019 result (2,495,536). BEV sales soar 75.1% year-on-year to 68,930 and 32.4% share vs. 19% in August 2025, and are up 53.1% year-to-date to 515,545 and 26.2% share vs. 18% over the first 8 months of 2025.

Volkswagen (-14%) is in serious trouble and falls to 15.2% share, its lowest since November 2021 (14.9%). For its part Mercedes (+8%) is strong and cements its 2nd place with 9.7% share vs. 8.8% so far this year. BMW (+2%) and Skoda (+7.3%) are also in positive but Audi (-16.5%) freefalls to just 6% share vs. 7% year-to-date. Opel (-8.7%), Ford (-3.8%) and Hyundai (-0.7%) sheepishly complete a Top 8 unchanged on last month, YTD and FY2025. Kia (+32.4%) is up three spots to score its first Top 10 finish since November 2023 and best ranking since August 2023 at #9. BYD (+371.8%) continues to surge at #13 with 2.5% share, with Xpeng (+311%), Leapmotor (+172.9%), Tesla (+110.5%), MG (+54.5%), Mazda (+36.5%) and Renault (+27.9%) impressive below.

Model-wise, the VW Golf (+13.1%) enjoys a 12th consecutive month on top with 2.5% share, distancing the VW T-Roc (-27%) which was #1 a year ago. The Mercedes GLC (+103.9%) stuns and breaks its ranking record again with a first ever stint onto the German podium at #3. 45% of its August volume comes from the BEV variant. As a result the BMW X1 is down one spot to #4 but the VW Tiguan (-12.3%) repeats at a lukewarm 5th place vs. #3 year-to-date. The Audi A6 (+27.1%) is up four spots on July to #6, followed by the BMW X3 (+48.9%) up one to #7. 32% of X3 sales are the iX3 BEV variant. The Skoda Elroq (+75.5%) is up to #8, its highest ranking since last February. Below, notice the Citroen C3/C3 Aircross (+87.9%) up 18 spots to a record #11, the Mercedes CLA (+65.5%) at #12 and the Hyundai Tucson (+61.6%) up 13 ranks to #14. The Cupra Raval (#36) is the most popular recent launch above the Kia EV2 (#53) and Renault Twingo (#54).

Previous month: Germany July 2026: BEVs up 61.7%, Mercedes at highest this year

One year ago: Germany August 2025: VW T-Roc repeats at #1, teases Golf YTD

Full August 2026 Top 70 All brands and Top 373 All models below.