Volkswagen Dominant
While BMW is larger than Mercedes-Benz in Belgium, the Netherlands, and many other countries, it is exactly the opposite in the home country of these German premium brands. Other German brands also remain dominant in Germany.
While brands like Tesla and Kia have been at the very top of sales rankings in the Netherlands for years, in Germany it is still mainly the German brands that call the shots. Volkswagen traditionally holds the number one spot, and 2025 was no different, with a total sales figure for the entire year even ending 4.5 percent higher than in 2024. The difference between Volkswagen (560,796 cars) and the number two is truly enormous, according to statistics from the Kraftfahrt Bundesamt (KBA, a kind of DMV). Mercedes-Benz sold ‘only’ 260,415 cars in 2025, but among our eastern neighbors, it is the largest premium brand and the second largest brand overall. BMW follows closely with over 253,000 cars, after which, according to the Germans, the first non-German brand appears on the list. ‘According to the Germans’, indeed, because strictly speaking, Skoda is naturally a full-fledged Volkswagen subsidiary and therefore in that sense very much German. Other Volkswagen brands Audi and Seat follow in fifth and sixth place, while Opel – absolutely a German brand, but part of the international Stellantis group – has to settle for seventh place. Then it’s Ford’s turn, which surprisingly saw its sales figures rise despite everything, and in its European form should also be called more German than American. Therefore, the first truly fully, undeniably non-German brand only follows below that: Hyundai. In Germany, it performs better than Kia (12th place) and also outpaces Toyota and Dacia.
Below you can see the top 20 best-selling car brands in Germany in 2025. The difference with the Netherlands is thus remarkably large, and we would have liked to emphasize that with the top-selling models, but that list is not yet available. However, we know from our colleagues at AutoBild that up to and including November, the ‘good old’ Volkswagen Golf was number one when it came to models, followed by the T-Roc and Tiguan. The Opel Corsa was in 4th place over 11 months, the BMW X1 in fifth. This means the best-selling BMW performs significantly better than the best-selling Mercedes, which is the GLC in 10th place. Incidentally, commercial vehicles from Mercedes-Benz and other brands are not included in this list: it explicitly concerns what the Germans so beautifully call ‘Personenkraftwagens’ (passenger cars).
Chinese Invasion
The first Chinese brand is in 22nd place and is MG, BYD follows directly after in 23rd place. With the Chinese invasion, it still seems to be manageable in Germany, although the biggest risers are all Chinese and Geely-subsidiary Volvo ends up in the top 20. Tesla performs remarkably poorly, having to settle for 26th place. The brand saw its sales almost half compared to last year.