After many other countries, it is now also clear how the sales month of July went in Europe’s largest market. German car sales are lagging behind those of a year earlier.
In July 314,938 Germans bought a new car. That is of course quite a number, but it is still not enough to make up for the arrears. Compared to a year earlier, this is still a percentage drop of 5.4 percent. In the first seven months, sales are behind by 30.1 percent. A total of 1,525,560 cars have been sold so far this year, according to figures from the German Kraftfahrt Bundesamt.
Although German car sales are well behind last year, things are worse in other countries. Take the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain, where the decrease is respectively 41.9, 42 and 43 percent. Whereas Volkswagen had the largest share of the German market in July with 19 percent, sales fell by 3.3 percent. Compared to Audi (-20.8 percent), Ford (-22.5 percent), Opel (-45.2 percent) and especially Smart (-51.6 percent), that is not so bad.
However, in July it was not doom and gloom with every brand. Mini, BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Porsche, for example, saw their German sales increase. Mini and BMW in particular did well with percentage increases of 35.7 and 17.4 percent. Non-German brands also performed well: Subaru (+63.9 percent), Jeep (+42.2 percent) and Mitsubishi (+33.4 percent) had an excellent July. Other non-German brands, on the other hand, ended up in the red, with Tesla (-66.6 percent) far in the lead. The American EV builder is followed by Land Rover (-39.9 percent), Jaguar (-38.9 percent) and Alfa Romeo (-33.6 percent).
Just like in our country, motorhomes in Germany are gaining enormous popularity. Its sales almost doubled in July.