The VW Golf manages to keep its pole position at home.

Discover over 90 years worth of German Historical data here.

New car sales in Germany are up 7.3% year-on-year in 2023 to 2,844,609 units. For context, this is still below the 2,917,678 units of pandemic-plagued 2020. Fleet sales account for 67.1% of the total volume at 1,908,733 units vs. 64.1% in 2022 while private sales are at 32.9% vs. 35.9%. Volkswagen (+7.9%) matches the market and climbs back above 500,000 annual sales with 18.2% share. The Top 4 brands are unchanged on 2022 with Mercedes (+13.7%), Audi (+15.7%) and BMW (+11.2%) all valiantly beating the market. Skoda (+17.1%) is back above Opel (+0.2%) for the first time since 2020 whereas Ford (-11.2%) freefalls at #7. Hyundai is stable at #8 with Seat (+28.1%) scoring the largest year-on-year gain in the Top 17, up five spots on last year to #9. Fiat (-1.6%) struggles but leaps into the Top 10, toppling Toyota (-4%). Dacia (+13.6%) advances to #13 and outsells sister brand Renault (-14.5%). Notice also Tesla (-9%) down two spots to #15. BYD lands at #35.

Over in the models aisle, the VW Golf (-3.8%) endures its worst ever annual market share for the third year in a row at 2.9%. It got challenged like never before this year, only managing the #1 monthly spot  seven times. It also delivered some strong months, peaking at 3.9% in September and enabling it to retain the top spot for the 43rd consecutive year. This is also the Golf’s 48th win in the past 49 years (every year since 1975 apart from 1980 won by the Mercedes W123) to be compared with “only” 29 wins for the VW Beetle (from 1946 to 1973). The Golf distances the T-Roc (+16.5%) which was #1 in March, May and June. It dislodges the VW Tiguan (+8.2%), down to #3. The Opel Corsa (+6.9%) trails the market but advances one spot to #4. It ranked #1 in April. The VW Passat (+21%) follows with a solid score, up two ranks to #5. Loser this year (-9.9%), the Fiat 500 lineup falls to #6 but historically topped the charts in October. The remainder of the Top 10 all outpace the market with the Mercedes C-Class (+32.3%) up 4 spots to #9, Tesla Model Y (+29.3%) up two to #8, Skoda Octavia (+25.6%) up four to #10 and the Mini lineup (+14.4%) down one to #7.

Previous year: Germany 2022: Last minute surge tilts market into positive (+1.1%), VW Golf challenged again

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

Full December 2023 Top 60 All brands and Top 343 All models below.

Full Year 2023 Top 60 All brands and Top 367 All models vs. Full Year 2022 figures below.