Germany’s true fleet market built on September’s narrow gain of 0.1% with a more positive performance in October.

German True Fleet builds on last month’s narrow gain

Latest figures from Dataforce show the total market – which fell 3.3% in September – was up 3.9% in October with a little under 273,000 registrations, with true fleets rising 2.9%. Private registrations were up 9.8% over October 2016 while Special Channels was the only segment to record a negative growth with a figure of -0.9%.

Within the true fleet top 10 OEMs, VW retained the crown while Mercedes leapfrogged Audi (3rd) to take second position with a 22.2% growth. The next five slots all saw OEMs retain their standings, with BMW in fourth followed by Ford, Skoda, Opel and Renault, although BMW, Ford and Opel all slightly entered negative territory.

Skoda was up 20.9% surge but Renault and Peugeot were the month’s growth superstars, with Renault up 47.6%, driven by the Megane and Scenic, while Peugeot (9th) delivered a 157.0% gain, jumping 4 places, with noteworthy growths from the 208, 3008, 5008 and Expert. SEAT completed the Top 10 with growth of 33.2% although it dropped a rank from last year.

Dataforce also noted unusual growth within the segment for fleets with 75-99 cars, with October performance up on the same month last year by 58.3% while the category has the second highest YTD expansion of 12.0% (150–199 is highest with 16.5%). And although German brands typically dominate the different fleet size markets, Renault came out highest for fleets with 75-99 cars, up 47.6% YTD and with a strong performance within petrol vehicle take-up.