In 2020, 356,051 new passenger cars were registered, according to figures from Bovag, RAI Association and RDC. There weren’t that few in more than half a century. Fortunately, there are also winners.
It may well come out of the pen, in reality it is of course anything but beautiful: in 2020 more than 20 percent fewer new passenger cars were registered and we dare to claim that many car manufacturers, importers and dealers last night last night with a well-meant footprint in the rear, out the door. In 2019, 445,217 new passenger cars found their first owner, last year there were only 356,051. That is the lowest level since 1967, when dealers had to make do with 263,588 order forms. Mind you, 1967: the year our King was born and the year Penny Lane blared out of the transistor radios.
Fortunately, there are also brands that wrote positive figures in 2020. The former underdog Kia is therefore proudly number 2 in the brands hit parade. It registered more than 6 percent more than the year before. The Niro has even turned out to be the best-selling car of 2020 and the third place on the model list is also taken by Kia with the Kona. Fiat also ended 2020 better than 2019 (+22.7 percent). Bentley plunged 9.3 percent and finally we welcomed a number of new brands such as Aiways, Polestar and MG (although that actually came into play in 2019). Tesla ends 2020 at number 16 and is therefore just off the list below.
Of course, 2020 was the year of the electric car and although the exact figures for type of drive are not yet available, we know that there were about 70,000, about 20 (that’s the number again) percent of the total market. Last month there were even about two thirds, helped of course by the addition increase that took effect today (12 percent on the first 40,000 euros instead of 8 percent on the first 45,000 euros).
Best-selling car models 2020
Fashion model | December | Jan. until Dec. 2020 | |
1 | Kia Niro | 788 | 11,880 |
2 | Volkswagen ID3 | 6,083 | 10,954 |
3 | Hyundai Kona | 4,526 | 10,823 |
4 | Volkswagen Polo | 151 | 8,975 |
5 | Volvo XC40 | 2.064 | 8,477 |
6 | Opel Corsa | 895 | 8,473 |
7 | Tesla Model 3 | 3,938 | 8,369 |
8 | Ford Focus | 292 | 7,773 |
9 | Renault Clio | 511 | 7,478 |
10 | Peugeot 208 | 836 | 6,916 |
11 | Ford Fiesta | 488 | 6,659 |
12 | Kia Picanto | 212 | 6,604 |
13 | Toyota Yaris | 1.098 | 6,439 |
14 | Volkswagen Golf | 248 | 6,374 |
15 | Toyota Aygo | 691 | 6,295 |
Most popular car brands 2020
Brand | December | Jan. until Dec. 2020 | |
1 | Volkswagen | 9,291 | 44,670 |
2 | Kia | 1.164 | 26,777 |
3 | Peugeot | 1,870 | 23,938 |
4 | Toyota | 2,697 | 22,852 |
5 | Opel | 1,356 | 20,377 |
6 | Renault | 1,646 | 20,335 |
7 | Ford | 979 | 19,381 |
8 | BMW | 554 | 17,992 |
9 | Skoda | 1.468 | 16,597 |
10 | Volvo | 2,343 | 16,174 |
11 | Hyundai | 4,920 | 15,635 |
12 | Mercedes-Benz | 966 | 14,087 |
13 | Audi | 2,401 | 12,938 |
14 | Lemon | 593 | 10,715 |
15 | Seat | 813 | 9,095 |
You can read the detailed sales figures with analysis in Techzle 1, which will be published on Wednesday 6 January.