Europe's largest car maker, Volkswagen, in 2005 dominated the German automobile market, according to a study released Tuesday.

Between January and November, VW sold 571,335 cars, giving it a market share of 18.5 percent, according to the KBA , a federal office monitoring new automobile licenses.

Mercedes came in at second place (322,591 cars), with Opel, which is owned by General Motors, taking third with 318,358 cars.

The strongest import brand is French car maker Renault with 154,028 cars sold and a market share of 5 percent.

The best-selling car in Germany in 2005 was VW's Golf/Jetta model, a mid-sized model of which nearly 222,000 units were sold.

The more expensive categories were led by the Audi A6 and the Mercedes CLS. Bavarian car maker BMW has lost the spot in the top three for overall sales, but heads the sports utility sector with its X3 model.

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Best sellers for each segment:

VW Fox - 23.251
VW Polo - 65.457
Golf/Jetta - 222,000
Audi A4 - 89.275
Audi A6 - 58.763
Mercedes CLS - 7.459
BMW X3 - 20.422
Peugeot 206 CC - 17.773
VW Touran - 70.861

Source: - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER

Well that is very interesting, I really would expect BMW to be doing better than this - but it shows very clearly that German taste is still very different from American taste - although I am not surprised that the CLS is popular in Germany too - beauty is beauty afterall

For me it's wrong put CLS in the same segment with A8 , 7 and S like KBA does. CLS sales should be compared to 6 series sales.

Well its a win win for the CLS..it would win against the 6er..by a larger margin..

This is why I can't get too excited about these sales press releases because one min they paint a gloomy picture for one brand and a spectacular one for another. I thought BMW was on fire in Germany too(?), but here they have slipped. These news agencies must have a whole staff of folks that just think of new ways to frame sales numbers to a particular mood of the day.

M

Oh, c'mon. Quoting Autospies as a source is like getting advice about rallye driving from my granny.

BMW is doing just great in Germany. They grow.
Yes, A4 outsold 3er by a small margin due to slow sales of E46 in the 1Q 2005 and E90 shortage in the first months after launch. A6 outsold 5er by a small margine due to A6 Avant which is extremely popular in Germany. But 5er sales were down anually. 7er sells better than A8, A3 out sold 1er due to being more practical.

Here are the numbers:
2005 Rank / 2004 Rank / Brand / Jan.-Oct. 2005 / Jan.-Oct. 2004 / Growth in %
1 1 Volkswagen 516.981 /497.935 / 3,8
2 2 Mercedes-Benz 292.645 / 297.673 / -1,7
3 3 Opel 289.715 / 274.160 / 5,7
4 4 BMW* 224.308 / 207.080 / 8,3
5 6 Audi 209.839 / 189.021 11,0

2004 Rank / 2003 Rank / Brand / Sales 2004 / Sales 2003 / Growth in %
1 1 Volkswagen / 602.725 / 600.364 / 0,4
2 2 Mercedes-Benz 360.425 / 369.099 / -2,4
3 3 Opel 334.794 / 332.737 / 0,6
4 6 BMW* 249.803 / 227.922 / 9,6
5 5 Ford 243.930 / 235.279 / 3,7
6 4 Audi 235.652 / 238.742 / -1,3

*BMW brand only, without MINI

You can see Top 3 of Nov 2005 by segments right - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER. Btw, there is a mistake by "Gelandwagen" - X3 is first (2.230), not ML (1.643).

Source: - ONLY REGISTERED AND ACTIVATED USERS CAN SEE ALL LINKS - CLICK HERE TO REGISTER, AutoBild, AMS

I agree which I why I only give a passing thought to these sales updates. Long as they're selling at the same or better than last year its fine with me and/or make money to fund new products.

M

Damn man opel are pushing some seriou nr´s in germany.. i thought they where about to go under.. haha

You are good in excuses.

I might have autospies as one source but i also have the original article that Autospies copied also if you haven't noticed.

3er still has to grow... keep in mind that that is the % of sales of BMW.