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Mass model since 1974:
The VW Golf, also in 2021 the favorite car of the Germans
Photo: Tobias Schwarz/ REUTERS
The Germans love their VW, the French love their Renault and the Swedes love their Volvo.
According to an analysis by the automotive supplier JATO Dynamics, Europeans like to remain loyal to their domestic car brands.
The rule will be confirmed again in 2021: Five Volkswagen models are among the ten most popular new cars in Germany in 2021.
With around 490,000, the VW core brand was also the clear market leader in Germany among new passenger car registrations in 2021.
Almost every fifth newly registered car came from the carmaker from Wolfsburg.
VW Golf undisputed number 1
In first place with 91,621 new registrations is the Golf, which has been in production since 1974 and is now the eighth generation.
The T-Roc and the Tiguan follow in 2nd and 3rd place, while the Up (5th place) and the Passat (6th place) also make it into the top 10.
However, the truth is that the figures give little cause for celebration.
Almost all bestsellers were sold less frequently than in the previous year, and the number of registrations for the Golf alone has halved in two years.
Overall, the year was sobering for the German car market.
The number of registrations fell by more than ten percent to 2.6 million new cars.
Mind you from the already low level of the crisis year 2020.
The main reason for the poor sales figures is the lack of semiconductors, which is massively depressing car manufacturers' sales.
The manufacturers sometimes tried to save themselves by installing the scarce components, especially in expensive vehicles.
Tesla narrowly misses the top 10
The sales figures for many electric models developed much more positively than the market as a whole – but no electrically powered vehicle made it into the top 10.
Last year, however, it was tight for the first time: the number of registrations for Tesla's Model 3 rose by 138 percent.
With 35,262 new registrations, Tesla just barely missed the top 10.
The Fiat 500 had a good 500 more new registrations.
Overall, the electric revolution picked up speed in Germany last year.
355,961 electric cars were newly registered, which means an increase of 83 percent.
The number of hybrid cars registered for the first time, some of which are electrically powered, rose by 43 percent to 754,588 new registrations.
As a result, hybrid vehicles pushed diesel out of second place among the most popular types of drive.
Last year, 524,446 diesel vehicles were newly registered, almost 300,000 fewer than the year before.
Gasoline engines remain the undisputed number one drive type with 972,588 new registrations.
However, also with massive losses: In 2020, almost 1.4 million new petrol engines were registered.
