The KBA, which means Federal Motor Transport Authority in English, revealed that Volkswagen dominated the new car market in Germany last year. According to documents published by the German type approval authority, the Wolfsburg-based automaker sold 519,089 passenger vehicles in 2023, which is 7.9 percent better than in 2022.
The best-selling model of the bunch was the Golf, with KBA reporting 81,117 registrations in 2023. Second and third places also feature Volkswagen badges, namely the T-Roc crossover with 68,678 units and the slightly larger Tiguan with 63,958 units. Opel secured fourth place with the Corsa, which is marketed under the Vauxhall brand in the UK. Of the 53,669 units registered in Germany last year, 13,861 were ordered with the electric powertrain.
Opel, which is controlled by Stellantis, also issued a press release in this regard. The takeaway is that every fourth registered Corsa was electric, and that Opel dominates the subcompact hatchback segment with this model. The Russelsheim-based manufacturer also highlights that over 14.5 million units of the Corsa have been sold worldwide since Opel introduced the B-segment model back in 1982.
Turning out attention back to KBA's registration figures, the Volkswagen Passat is fifth with 47,494 sales under its belt. Fiat, which is also part of the Stellantis group, racked up 47,166 registrations of the cutesy little Cinquecento.
The MINI Hatch, Tesla Model Y, and Mercedes-Benz C-Class (make that C-Klasse in German) are ranked seventh, eighth, and ninth. Skoda rounds off the top ten with 41,819 units of the Octavia. Considering that Tesla sold 45,818 examples of the Model Y in Germany, the electric crossover is Germany's favorite fully-electric vehicle.
Photo: Volkswagen
Be that as it may, Tesla ranks 15th in terms of market share. From Volkswagen's 519,089 registrations to Tesla's 63,685 registrations, we have Mercedes in second place with 277,352 sales, Audi in third, BMW, Skoda, Opel, SEAT, Ford, Hyundai, Fiat, Toyota, Kia, Dacia, and Renault with 68,312 sales. At the other end of the spectrum, Chinese automaker Aiways racked up a total of 50 registrations.
That's 10 fewer vehicles than the Morgan Motor Company, which specializes in retro-styled sports cars that cost a pretty penny. The Plus 4, which is powered by a BMW-sourced turbo four-pot engine, is £71,829.80 in the United Kingdom or a whopping 83,620 euros at current exchange rates.
Germany's best-selling British automaker is Land Rover with 13,779 registrations. Once a British automaker as well, MG Motor sold 21,232 vehicles in this part of the world. But alas, MG has been a Chinese brand since 2005, a marque whose vehicles are made in China rather than the UK.
That being said, aren't we forgetting something? Ah, yes! According to KBA's registration figures, no fewer than 840,304 hybrid-powered vehicles were sold in Germany last year, of which plug-in hybrids accounted for 175,724 registrations. The most popular hybrid of the lot was the Toyota Yaris Hybrid, which is also sold as the Mazda2 Hybrid since December 2021 for the 2022 model year.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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