Automakers normally count on redesigns to improve vehicle sales, but the Volkswagen Passat’s hefty 56 percent boost in demand last year in its home market of Germany is certainly an outlier.
With 103,507 deliveries, the large German sedan catapulted to second place behind the perennially top-selling Volkswagen Golf and Jetta (258,059), which continue to command by far the largest slice of the market in the Central European country. VW also took third place with its smaller Polo (90,720). Last year, the Passat was the country’s seventh best seller.
The European-market Passat was modestly revised for 2011. It is closely related to the Passat that was sold in North America from 2006 to 2011, but it shares little with the new Tennessee-built Passat engineered exclusively for this market.
The Passat displaced the Opel Astra, although that General Motors compact had a fairly robust year on its own with sales up 19 percent to put it in fourth place with 86,579 deliveries. Opel also took home sixth place with its Corsa. Mercedes-Benz and BMW each had two cars on the top 10 list as well.
The 10 Best-Selling Cars in Germany in 2011
1. VW Golf/Jetta 258,059
2. VW Passat 103,507
3. VW Polo 90,720
4. Opel Astra 86,579
5. Mercedes-Benz C-Class 79,820
6. Opel Corsa 70,152
7. BMW 3-Series 62,280
8. Mercedes-Benz E-Class 61,371
9. Ford Focus 61,157
10. BMW 5-Series 59,759
