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| The VW 1500 Variant. I had a dinky car of the saloon model |
Germany has held up well for a mature market. It has local brands so that helps keeping production from moving elsewhere. Of late being tied to the Euro is a huge benefit too. While many bemoan bailing out Greece, I feel that Germany gets more back when it comes to exporting cars. If Germany still had the Mark it would be much higher in value.
VW has always been the main producer, with Ford and Opel not that far behind. However, production for the latter two have of late lost German market share and production has slowly moved to countries with lower wage costs. That has been offset by an increase in premium production.
Will VW's cheating hurt volumes. Well not much for 2015 as it came so late and in 2016 things will get back on track. The 2014 commercial vehicle figure is a partial estimate thanks to truck maker MAN not releasing data. What is there to hide? I've noticed other Euro truck manufacturers going this way. However DAF are very open so well done to them.
| Year | Vehicle | Car | CV | % CV | |
| 1945 | 6,800 | 1,300 | 5,500 | 80.9% | |
| 1950 | 306,000 | 219,000 | 87,000 | 28.4% | |
| 1955 | 909,000 | 762,000 | 147,000 | 16.2% | |
| 1960 | 2,055,000 | 1,817,000 | 238,000 | 11.6% | |
| 1965 | 2,977,000 | 2,734,000 | 243,000 | 8.2% | |
| 1970 | 3,842,000 | 3,528,000 | 314,000 | 8.2% | |
| 1975 | 3,186,000 | 2,908,000 | 278,000 | 8.7% | |
| 1980 | 3,879,000 | 3,521,000 | 358,000 | 9.2% | |
| 1985 | 4,446,000 | 4,167,000 | 279,000 | 6.3% | |
| 1990 | 4,977,000 | 4,661,000 | 316,000 | 6.3% | |
| 1995 | 4,666,000 | 4,360,000 | 306,000 | 6.6% | |
| 2000 | 5,527,000 | 5,132,000 | 395,000 | 7.1% | |
| 2005 | 5,758,000 | 5,350,000 | 408,000 | 7.1% | |
| 2010 | 5,906,000 | 5,552,000 | 354,000 | 6.0% | |
| 2014 | 5,960,000 | 5,604,000 | 356,000 | 6.0% |
Summary: There will be little or no further growth as no new car plants are being built. Just the ebb and flow of demand to affect numbers.
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