Electric cars are on the rise – accordingly, more is happening on the German car market than in many years before. We look at the new registrations of last year and examine how classic models and newcomers fared.
You keep hearing bad news from the German automotive industry. However, the industry was able to stabilize at a moderate level last year. A total of around 2.9 million new registrations were registered in 2025. This corresponds to an increase of 1.4 percent compared to the previous year. The final spurt in December in particular ensured a reconciliatory end to the year for manufacturers with an increase of 9.7 percent.
These cars were the most sold in 2025
The big trend is of course electric cars. Battery electric vehicles (BEVs) grew by an impressive 43.2 percent, securing a market share of 19.1 percent. For the classic gasoline engines, however, things went downhill steeply. The decline of 21.6 percent makes it clear that the transformation is making great strides despite all the social debates. For plug-in hybrids, the increase was even over sixty percent.
Aside from the top ten, there were some notable newcomers who are worth keeping an eye on for the future. Above all, the Chinese manufacturer BYD was able to record major growth of over 700 percent. The BYD Seal U model has already found almost ten thousand buyers. In stark contrast, the former electric pioneer Tesla, which lost almost half of its previous year’s volume, suffered a blow in the stomach.
Commercial owners were responsible for two thirds of new cars. Nevertheless, privately purchased cars increased by 5.1 percent (via car dealership). But we want to know which models generally sold best in 2025.
10th place: Audi A6
The Audi A6 opens the top ten 37,505 New registrations. The A6 is one of the few representatives of the upper middle class that made it into our ranking.
