What They Really Drive On The Autobahn: Germany's Top 50

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

According to lore, Germany’s autobahn is teeming with S-Class, Porsches, and the occasional Veyron mixed in. Not so, says Germany’s Über-DMV, the Kraftfahrtbundesamt, in an article about the 50 top selling cars in Germany of 2010. “Upper class and sports cars are not in the Top 50,” say Germany’s keepers of car data. The truth is in the following table.

Germany’s Top 50RankMake & modelSegmentUnits 2010ShareDiesel1VW GOLF, JETTACompact Class251,0788.6%35.4%2VW POLOSmall Cars96,9453.3%18.1%3OPEL ASTRACompact Class72,6852.5%27.7%4MERCEDES C-KLASSEMiddle Class71,8712.5%55.1%5BMW 3ERMiddle Class67,6432.3%68.8%6VW PASSATMiddle Class66,4962.3%82.6%7OPEL CORSASmall Cars65,3042.2%5.0%8AUDI A3, S3Compact Class63,4662.2%45.1%9AUDI A4, S4Middle Class59,8632.1%76.8%10BMW 1ERCompact Class55,3531.9%53.9%11MERCEDES E-KLASSEUpper Middle Class54,1111.9%73.9%12FORD FOCUSCompact Class53,7201.8%36.2%13FORD FIESTASmall Cars51,5981.8%10.5%14MERCEDES A-KLASSECompact Class51,5791.8%27.6%15SKODA FABIASmall Cars48,6091.7%11.3%16BMW 5ERUpper Middle Class46,0141.6%81.9%17VW TOURANVan45,6841.6%63.2%18SKODA OCTAVIACompact Class42,9461.5%54.8%19VW TIGUANSUV38,6871.3%66.6%20MERCEDES B-KLASSEMinivan37,5261.3%39.9%21VW TRANSPORTER, CARAVELLEUtility36,6911.3%99.4%22OPEL MERIVAMinivan31,7411.1%12.5%23BMW MiniSmall Cars31,4771.1%14.1%24HYUNDAI I 30Compact Class30,4981.0%22.8%25AUDI A6, S6Upper Middle Class30,0791.0%88.3%26VW CADDYUtility30,0051.0%68.0%27SMART FORTWOMini29,0651.0%14.9%28OPEL INSIGNIAMiddle Class28,2081.0%76.6%29RENAULT MEGANECompact Class27,4650.9%40.6%30BMW X1SUV26,6340.9%82.9%31NISSAN QASHQAIMinivan24,1480.8%33.8%32PEUGEOT 207Small Cars23,9940.8%18.8%33FIAT PANDAMini23,6380.8%5.5%34SEAT IBIZA, CORDOBASmall Cars23,5700.8%11.8%35AUDI A5, S5Middle Class23,4150.8%54.6%36RENAULT CLIOSmall Cars23,3330.8%5.3%37AUDI Q5SUV23,1480.8%85.9%38RENAULT SCENICMinivan22,6770.8%53.9%39TOYOTA YARISSmall Cars20,8110.7%5.0%40OPEL ZAFIRAVan20,7500.7%37.7%41FORD MONDEOMiddle Class20,3040.7%76.3%42RENAULT TWINGOMini19,6480.7%1.9%43SEAT ALTEA, TOLEDO, LEONMinivan18,6680.6%24.8%44FIAT 500Mini17,7070.6%5.0%45NISSAN MICRASmall Cars17,6890.6%1.5%46DACIA SANDEROCompact Class16,8350.6%7.7%47HYUNDAI I 10Mini16,7030.6%0.1%48CITROEN C3Small Cars16,6190.6%19.0%49SKODA SUPERBMiddle Class15,4500.5%73.3%50PEUGEOT 308Compact Class15,3760.5%51.7%Total Top 502,047,52470.2%42.3%All registrations 20102,916,260100.0%41.9%

25 cars made up half of Germany’s sales last year. The Top 50 account for 66 percent. 42 percent burn oil. Electric cars? Hybrids? Do you see any?

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • CarnotCycle CarnotCycle on Jun 03, 2011

    I remember living in Brussels, Belgium a few years back for awhile. Everyone drives a compact hatch. A hatch's layout is the most usability you can get out of such a volume as fits their streets, taxes, and operating costs. Americans really aren't that different in 'practicality' of layout if not scale. They just drive hog-hatches and call them 'crossovers' at this point. I mean, they don't even pretend to be trucks anymore...just oversized AWD blob-wagons with a lift-kit. But I don't get the Golf-thing. Might be German, might be pretty neat little car in various trim, but there's so many cars in that space. And its not like anyone else gobbles them up like that because of some universal, intrinsic quality about Golfs, even amongst dedicated compact car buyers.

  • Wallstreet Wallstreet on Jun 03, 2011

    I 'm jealous of how many choices Deutsch have over us.

  • Corey Lewis Think how dated this 80s design was by 1995!
  • Tassos Jong-iL Communist America Rises!
  • Merc190 A CB7 Accord with the 5 cylinder
  • MRF 95 T-Bird Daihatsu Copen- A fun Kei sized roadster. Equipped with a 660cc three, a five speed manual and a retractable roof it’s all you need. Subaru Levorg wagon-because not everyone needs a lifted Outback.
  • Merc190 I test drive one of these back in the day with an automatic, just to drive an Alfa, with a Busso no less. Didn't care for the dash design, would be a fun adventure to find some scrapped Lancia Themas or Saab 900's and do some swapping to make car even sweeter. But definitely lose the ground effects.
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