German automobile companies are some of the most successful in the industry on an international scale. In fact, the Volkswagen Group topped a ranking of leading motor manufacturers based on global sales, with almost 11 million units sold worldwide in 2019. The Volkswagen Group was also the leading car manufacturer by production volume in Germany. The Daimler AG was further behind with 3.36 million vehicles on the market, and the BMW Group brought up the top three with 2.54 million cars.
The total weight of cars exported from Germany in 2019 was roughly 17.8 billion tons, while export value amounted to 217.8 billion euros. German vehicles were mainly exported to European countries. Other leading regions for vehicle export included North and South America, as well as Asia. The list of leading import countries for German motor vehicles included the U.S., the UK and China among the top three. As of 2018, 25.48 billion euros worth of German cars were imported to the United States.
In terms of passenger car brands, German ones were the most popular domestically. In 2019, the number of registered VW cars amounted to roughly 10 million, followed by 4.5 million Opel vehicles and 4.43 million Mercedes cars. Volkswagen’s Golf and Tiguan were the leading car models in Germany, based on new registrations. Historically the number of registered passenger cars grew in the last five decades, from 4.5 million in 1960 to 47 million in 2019.
