Germany registered 2,857,591 passenger cars (Pkw Neuzulassungen) in 2025 according to KBA, December 2025 and full-year release, up 1.4% on the 2.82M of 2024 and well below the pre-pandemic 3.6M peak of 2019. The market remains structurally smaller than a decade ago, with leasing and fleet renewal activity carrying most of the volume.
Volkswagen Still #1, Mercedes Strong #2
Volkswagen took 19.6% market share across the Golf, T-Roc, Tiguan, Passat, and ID series. Mercedes-Benz held #2 at 9.1% (260,415 units), BMW #3 at 8.9% after the strongest growth of any German brand (+8.9%), Skoda 7.9% as the largest import brand, and Audi 7.2%. Those five brands together took more than half of the market.
BEV Share Recovers to 19.1%
After the German federal EV subsidy was abruptly ended in December 2023, BEV sales fell sharply in 2024. In 2025, 545,142 BEVs were registered, up 43.2%, a 19.1% share that surpassed the pre-cut level (KBA Jahresbilanz 2025). VW Group's ID models, BMW, Mercedes and Skoda drove the recovery, helped by OEM-funded discounts, while Tesla's registrations fell 48.4%.
Diesel Below 15%
Diesel new car registrations fell to 395,022 in 2025, a 13.8% share, down from 17.2% in 2024. As recently as 2015, diesel was close to half of German new car sales. Diesel-gate, urban diesel bans, and the punitive CO2-based Kfz-Steuer have all contributed to the long decline.
Hybrid: 39.5% Including Plug-ins
KBA counted 1,127,509 hybrid cars in 2025, 39.5% of the market, of which 311,398 were plug-in hybrids (10.9%). Non-plug-in hybrids, at about 28.6%, are now the largest single fuel category in Germany, ahead of pure petrol (27.2%) and BEV (19.1%). VW, Audi, BMW and Mercedes mild-hybrid offerings make up much of the non-plug-in hybrid count.
Drill into the full KBA Bundesländer breakdown on the Germany dashboard.