German “top 15” car sales for 2017. So far.
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I thought it could be interesting to see what are the most popular cars in Germany.
Since, here, we mostly get their luxury models. Except for VW.
Surprised to see the Passat in second place. It’s a rather large car for Europe. Had no idea it was that popular.
Also the C-Class. I thought the smaller cheaper A-Class would be more popular.
As you would expect, it’s mostly German brands. Very few foreign brands seem to be able to crack the top 15 list….
Yes, Germans and Scandinavians often buy larger cars than they do in the rest of Europe. I suppose it could be because we have more structured parking spaces. In Southern Europe it's easier to find a parking space the smaller car you've got.
This appears to be the sales including commercial fleet sales. Passat/C/A4 are very popular company car choices and are substantial volume of this.
Without that you see slightly more non-German brands but not whole lot.
This chart right here shows why VW is not going to bother paying any compensation to European buyers of their Dieselgate cars, as opposed to the billions they will reportedly be paying in the US: they know they don't need to, because Europeans in general and Germans in particular will continue to buy their cars no matter what. In Europe they don't need to make any effort to improve their image because it is indestructible, like Donald Trump when he said he could shoot someone in 5th Avenue and it wouldn't matter.
Germans are rich and can afford expensive German cars…even if many of them are company cars. The Golf brand includes the Sportwagon and the Jetta (even if not very popular in Europe, including Germany). Even if quite familiar with the German market, I'm surprised to see no BMW in the top 15 and no other SUV than the Tiguan…
Indeed this incliudes fleet sales as well, nad the passat has a 90% or so rate in company cars/fleet customers. C-Class, E Class, A4 ditto. As explained above, without them you have a few more imports, and a few more non VAG brands, but it is still a very German centric list.
BMWs are also popular. The 3-series ist often within the top 5. BMWs are not even on the list. So when living in Germany, you are basically surrounded by German cars (which is kind of boring).
Toyota's current market share in Germany is 2.3% (US: ~14%) and without Opel, GM has nearly no marketshare at all.