The German car companies started the new year with weak sales figures. Manufacturers such as Mercedes, Volkswagen and Audi have now also reported BMW a loss in the first quarter. The BMW Group, including its subsidiaries Mini and Rolls-Royce, delivered 565,748 cars worldwide. That is 3.5 percent less than a year ago.
The decisive factor for the decline at BMW is a significant decrease of ten percent China to 144,000 vehicles. The US market fell by 4.3 percent to around 90,000 vehicles. Things went better in Germany with growth of 10.7 percent to 68,000 cars. Europe as a whole was up three percent with around 236,000 cars delivered.
After BMW often in recent years good numbers in the area of electric cars could show, sales fell by 20 percent to 87,500 deliveries in the first quarter of 2026. Among other effects, the introduction of the new electric vehicle series “Neue Klasse” could also have an impact. This has accounted for a significant proportion of new orders for electric cars for around six months, but so far only a few vehicles have been delivered. Sales director Jochen Goller speaks of “significantly more than 50,000 orders received since the start of orders in Europe”.
Minus at VW Group
The VW Group and its subsidiaries Audi and Porsche had previously published their sales figures for the first three months of the year. Group-wide, the VW Group recorded a loss of 4 percent and delivered 2.05 million vehicles. “The global automobile market declined overall until the end of March,” said Audi sales director Marco Schubert. “The Volkswagen Group nevertheless kept its global market share largely stable compared to the same period last year.”
Also VW had sales problems on the Chinese market548,700 vehicles were delivered there in the first quarter of 2026, almost 15 percent fewer than in the same period last year. In North America the number of deliveries fell by more than 13 percent to 205,500 vehicles; in the USA the decline was even 20.5 percent. These declines were primarily due to strong competition in China with a simultaneously shrinking market and Donald Trump’s customs policy.
In Germany and throughout Europe, however, VW grew. Almost 850,000 cars were delivered in Western Europe, 4.2 percent more than a year ago. The increase in Germany was 4.8 percent. However, the declines in China and North America were unable to offset this development.
The VW core brand performed worse than the entire group due to the higher share of China: minus 7.6 percent to 1.05 million deliveries. At the Audi subsidiary, deliveries worldwide fell by 6.1 percent to 360,000 vehicles. It hit hardest Porsche: Deliveries there fell by 14.7 percent to just under 61,000 sports and off-road vehicles.
Decline also at Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz also previously reported a loss in the first quarter of 2026. The car manufacturer sold 499,700 cars and vans during this period, which corresponds to a decline of six percent compared to the same quarter last year.
The Stuttgart company’s poor business in China is also having a significant impact on the figures. The brand’s car sales in the country fell by 27 percent to 111,600 vehicles. Although the brand achieved significant growth in Europe and the USA, the total number of cars delivered fell by six percent to 419,400 vehicles due to weak business in China. Without China, car sales would have increased by five percent, it was said.
Mercedes Benz In contrast to the competition in the USA, sales increased by 20 percent to 81,100 vehicles. In Europe there was an increase of seven percent to 158,400 vehicles. In Germany, the brand grew by nine percent to 49,300 cars. However, this could not compensate for the decline in China.